Errors Explored and Revealed

Romney's Reasoning "Declining"

2012-01-25T16:56:00.000-08:00

Mr. Romney is no super patriot. He's publicly joined
those of us who believe the U.S. is a declining
empire, criticized the President's State of the Union
Address (Jan. 24th) for not agreeing with such a sad
reality. But Mitt can't catch the facts or remember
recent history: Mr. Obama did not cause the Great
Recession of 2008 (and beyond). If Mr. Obama wants to
speak in a determinedly positive fashion, I'd let him,
as too many will give up if the future is too powerfully
portrayed as irremediably bleak.

But get a load of Romney's pre-presidential prescription
for whisking us all away from the many conflicting,
complex and almost intractable difficulties ailing us:

(1) Get government off our backs and Mr. Obama out of
office! (-No reasonable specifics offered.)

(2) Private enterprise creates all the jobs! (Which
ones are those, Mitt? If we leave everything up to
you, no roads or rails will be built or repaired
here, just like in--oh, no! Third World countries.)

I could go on, but for now, just one more thought:
America's not the only thing in decline.

European Union United in Anti-Iranian Folly

2012-01-19T06:35:00.000-08:00

Obviously too many in Europe learned NOTHING
from the heavy reparations leveled against
Germany after WWI, which almost DIRECTLY
caused WWII. What do they think will occur
if a blockade/embargo of Iran's oil exports
is decided on January 23rd? --That Iran will
"straighten up and fly right" after larger
countries deny it their major source of income?
Don't these political leaders/policy wonks realize
the danger in putting people's backs against the
wall?

....Yet ironically, many Europeans nearly break
their arms patting themselves on the back for their
intellectual/cultural superiority over those
"new (upstart) Americans". So where is that much
vaunted superiority now? George Santayana would
NOT be impressed.

....and neither am I, with Europe or the U.S.
How much more bloodshed and economic privation
do you want to cause, you two?

Stop this anti-Iranian bully-bluster now, while
there is still time.

Catching the Facts: Romney Needs a New Mitt

2012-01-18T16:19:00.000-08:00

He's at it again, the man who would be the next
U.S. president. "Mitt" Romney couldn't catch a slow
"fact ball" written with a black magic marker in
capital letters:

(1) Hey, Mitt, Al Gore DID just about invent the internet.
Ask "Vint" Cerf, one of the two tech wizards who actually
converted code from Arpanet/Darpanet into the worldwide web.
Gore's tireless promotion in the U.S. senate of the technology
formerly only used to communicate between universities, our
government and the military became the law which released
said technology to the public....yeah, even to you, Mitt.

(2) The United States government, and OTHER nations'
governments, have INDEED created jobs, millions of them
over the decades: Who built our country's highway system in
the 1950s and '60s? Taxpayer funded projects authorized by
Congress in concert with President Eisenhower, in 1959.
Presidents TR (a republican) and cousin FDR (a democrat) also
instituted mammoth work projects. Ditto Kennedy, Clinton,
and others. The many agencies that protect our medical health
and physical safety/security are paid for by the taxpayers,
enacted by our government.

How is it that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts elected
this bonehead to its highest office? Or is he intentionally
misleading less than astute average voters? Which do you like
better, stupidity or cupidity?

Let's make sure the rest of us pull on a better "catcher's
mitt" than Romney's.

Let's Export These Expert "Medicine Men"

2012-01-12T13:00:00.000-08:00

It's time for wordplay on this snowy day--
time to excoriate dangerous medical authorities
publicly promulgating psychiatrically irresponsible
notions. A recent theory states that, between our
genes and our environment, there's little room
for free will. --What?? I'm no automaton, and
neither is anyone else, brainwashing and hypnosis
aside. Granted, family genetic history and one's
surroundings ARE powerful determinants, but we
do make choices every day independent of them,
nevertheless.

If neurological inevitability theory (or whatever
they're calling it) ever becomes popularly accepted,
rehab locations will shutter, psychiatry and psychology
will intervene less often (therefore, less humanely),
and no one imprisoned will bother to seek redemption;
domestic, school and neighborhood violence will skyrocket.
Many other undesirable results will no doubt occur to
the reader.

Let's not accept such a preposterously grim "medical"
assessment. Let's export these "experts" instead,
say, to outer Slobovia.

Second Amendment Future Fantasies

2012-01-03T09:48:00.000-08:00

It's a fantasy, alright, to think that Americans
might have the sense to clarify the Second Amendment,
making the ownership of guns a very restricted/regulated
proposition....although a careful reading of this
amendment already seems to qualify arms ownership.

Licensing guns and their owners is inadequate to the
goal of less murder/mayhem. "Conceal and carry" is one
of the most irresponsible ideas/denials of average human
reality I can think of: what about klutzes? Such gun-hiding
hapless folk have already inadvertently injured others.
More killed in the heat of the moment? "Oh, I might not
have done it if I hadn't been packing", etc.

Why stop at mere gun ownership? In a new amendment there
wisely would be language restricting arms sales to
other nations, profitable as that is. Gun shows allowed
only for hunters, law enforcement and the military might
thin the rolls of innocents suddenly dead.

But bullies are more numerous than one likes to admit,
and many of them, being cowards, only feel truly powerful
toting a gun. As anger and extremism march forward in
America, look for more calls to weaken gun control laws.

Meanwhile, I look to the day when we amend our document
so that the routine violence America is so widely known
for becomes remarkably less significant.

Future fantasy or forever fiction? --Maybe.
But a civilized country could do it.

Politics, Posturing and Pennies

2012-01-03T09:03:00.000-08:00

The whine this time is local, as all politics
eventually ends up being, per former U.S. House
Speaker "Tip" O'Neill. Chicago's Cook County,
amid great fanfare, has dropped 25% of the 1% recently
added to our sales tax. We're still among the top three
or four highest sales-tax entities in the nation,
nevertheless.--But the comments from some business
owners, elected officials and others might lead
one to think this is a progressive watershed moment.
It isn't.

It IS, however, the fulfillment of Cook County Board
President Toni Preckwinkle's campaign promise to lower
Cook County's excessive sales tax. Since our county is
the 19th largest taxing body in the U.S., anything it
enacts has high significance. The announcement's attendant
happy hyperbole irks me, nevertheless. Last week The Chicago
Sun-Times devoted column space analyzing the reduction in
consumer costs for items such as sweaters and washer/dryers.
The "before" and "after" price comparisons made me snort in
derision (-too bad I was in public at the time!). Some
savings were far less than the price of a pack of gum.
That very interesting arithmetic was adjacent to all the
quotes from the thriftily delighted.

In the wider world, as Election 2012 bears down on
us, watch for dollars, cents and hot air.
"What's sense got to do with it?" You may well ask.

And please DO.

Ben Breedlove: Ben BRED Love

2011-12-29T15:50:00.000-08:00

--Another life ends too soon. Ben Breedlove
died on December 25th, 2011, after opening his
Christmas gifts. Just 18, his inspirational
You Tube videos moved millions....

including me, as I suddenly realized he fulfilled
the promise of his name, as if it were a command:
"Ben, breed love." And he did. Can anything be
finer than that?

May angels sing thee to thy rest, as Shakespeare
so peerlessly said. May we all examine our names
for higher meanings, moving us to act accordingly.

The U.S. and Iran: Exports vs. "Experts"

2011-12-29T09:39:00.000-08:00

******TRY to be Responsible--BACK OFF******

--How about some sanity and concern for the New Year?
Mr. Obama deserves to lose his re-election bid if
he takes the advice certain "experts" in his circle are
giving regarding sanctioning/embargoing Iran's oil exports.

(1) Stop the "superpower" bluster, USA. We haven't won
any major wars since WWII--that's right, look it up:

Some may wish to consider Grenada and the First Gulf
War as meaningful victories; I don't. (At least we employed
rare admirable restraint in those instances.) We lost in
Korea, that peninsula is technically STILL AT WAR.
Afghanistan is STILL replete with warlords, the Taliban,
corrupt government, etc., after NINE YEARS. Why did we
think we could succeed where Russia and others failed?

We lost 55,000 American soldiers and Vietnam to the
Communists, where U.S. tourists travel today. Let's not
dwell overmuch on Iraq, the ill-intentioned, incompetent
governments at home and abroad which occasioned great loss
of U.S. blood, treasure and time, not forgetting the many
thousands of civilian Iraqi deaths. Other "brushfire"
skirmishes, involvements in the Arab Spring, etc., don't
qualify the U.S. as a superpower. We only reign supreme in
agribusiness and nuclear bombs. Our influence HAS its limits
as well as its consequences. WHO doesn't know that?
--Most of the current crop of 2012 U.S. presidential
candidates, that's who.

(2) It's rank folly to underestimate Iran, a cradle of civilization,
a nation far older than ours, a survivor of many wars and
invasions. Would we go to WWIII over the stupid oil question in
the Strait of Hormuz, whether the putative Iranian blockade would
stop 20 or 40% of the world's oil? (The media has used both of
these percentages.)

We in the West may look with suspicion and disapproval at any
Theocracy, but like it or not, THAT IS IRAN. By the way,
they haven't forgotten the CIA's 1953 meddling which toppled
their government, or the USA's friendship with Shah Reza Pahlavi,
who used electric shock on dissidents while we looked the other
way. --Superpower or super bully? Isn't that what we called the
Soviets?

Iran is more dangerous than some other countries because public
and international opinion matter very little there. Bearing this
in mind, do we really want to pointlessly provoke a dangerous
denouement with Iran?

America and Iran: the world is watching, back off. We will not
forget or forgive any major missteps at this critical moment in
the global economy.

"Grinchy" Knuckled Down by Public Shame

2011-12-23T05:26:00.000-08:00

I got MY Christmas present, in spades.
John Boehner,"fearless" U.S. House Speaker,
wrapped the DC year up in a squeaker.
I should have suspected an eventual cave,
as he did cry in public months back. There's
no shame in male tears, but that shows
me the man IS vulnerable to emotion and
others' opinions--too bad he's often
impervious to logic and good sense. The
surprise was Sen. Mitch McConnell, who
recovered his mental acuity long enough
to advise Rep. B. to herd his cats into
temporary submission.

The American worker gets some well-deserved
holiday relief. But expect the Winter of
our Discontent just after the New Year....

I guess I'm the Grinch now.

[P.S.: Please check out my comment under
the immediately preceding post for a bit
more about the "$40 a week" mass media
blast. Best Hopes for 2012, y'all.]

DC Drama: Who Stole Christmas?--Not the Grinch

2011-12-22T03:13:00.000-08:00

The wearing of carefully understated suits and
being seated around a conference table does NOT,
U.S. House Rep. Speaker Boehner, prove you and
yours are able and willing to get down to work.
Intransigence on so many important fronts just
shows how utterly bankrupt, morally/ethically/
practically our "democratic" political process
really is.

The skulking actors driving this embarrassing
farce are Mitch McConnell, Eric Cantor, Grover
Norquist and Speaker Boehner. Their only true
concerns are maintaining their lofty positions
and defeating Mr. Obama in 2012. Meanwhile,
all but the super rich are held hostage, as
respect for our vaunted process continues to
spiral downward. Somehow this recalls the
New York Teapot Dome scandal to me, in the
arrant stink of it, if in nothing else.

So as we all try to make the best of this
largely dispiriting holiday season, we're
sure the Grinch didn't steal Christmas.
If Dr. Seuss were writing today, the creature
would look like Speaker Boehner.

Technology IS NOT Enough, Virginia Tech!

2011-12-09T16:24:00.000-08:00

I fail to understand or even be amused by all
the students and the president at Virginia
Tech who today stated their confidence in their
campus wide "alert system", which consists of
email blasts and texts to students' cells. Er,
excuse me, but many people STILL resist keeping
a cell turned on and in their hands at all times.
In ADDITION to these worthy-enough electronic
methods, there must be police in cars with electronic
megaphones driving around all the main campus drags,
warning people to seek shelter, lock doors, lay low,
etc.--the MOMENT any campus official ascertains a
gunman is loose there.

Cells fail, run out of minutes, lose battery charge. PCs
freeze, get hacked, attacked by worms, bagels, etc.
I have a PC, have a cell. They are extremely useful, even
fun to have. But:

Personally, I trust in God and my own wits. Those
have saved me in many a dangerous situation, including
my own kidnapping (gun involved) 30+ years ago....

Technology is NOT enough, everybody.

Grover Norquist and the Right Ear of God

2011-11-23T05:14:00.000-08:00

We've all seen the cartoon image of everyone's
conscience at work, an angel on one shoulder,
the devil on the other. Why not one for God?
(Maybe that's been done, but I haven't seen it.)

Picture God in the usual manner, with a cruelly
conservative little devil on the right and a pretty
multi-colored angel on the left. (Sure, such an image
is extremely, simplistically polarizing, but I'll
risk it just this once for Grover Norquist.)

If Mr. Norquist were drawing this cartoon he'd
make the devil much larger and God's face would be
smiling. Ol' Grover is that confident of his
power over events, which so far has proven an
accurate notion. He really needs to broaden
his own perspective's informational base....
reading President Hoover's entire oeuvre,to the
exclusion of much else, if true, doesn't give
anyone an emancipated view of the world.

In spite of Hoover's disastrous approach to
the oncoming Great Depression, I too admire
Hoover for a few of his qualities. He was
an outstanding engineer, deserved to have
our huge hydroelectric miracle called the
Hoover Dam. I suppose Mr. Norquist bristles
whenever he reads critiques/criticisms of
Hoover, but he needn't. No U.S. president,
politician or person possesses perfection,
INCLUDING Grover. (-Say, was he named after
Grover Cleveland?)

The appalling pledge that every DC republican
office holder purportedly has signed just
takes my breath away. But I do understand:
in Mr. Norquist's cartoon drawing, God's face
would be his.

U.S. Congressman Joel Walsh Is Wrong--AGAIN --Insult our vets?

2011-11-21T07:28:00.000-08:00

Just because someone has a bully pulpit
doesn't mean they should use it. Some of
the current crop of Republican office holders
put the whole history of the party, and its
voters, to shame. Former office holders
like Lugar, Hagel and Percy must be annoyed,
embarrassed, frustrated. WHY doesn't Joel
Walsh just keep STILL and do a LOT more
reading and thinking BEFORE opening the
maw he calls his mouth??

If I ever encounter him at some public
function, I'll "give him the benefit of
my views":

(1) "Have you no shame sir, none at all?"
I'd be SHOCKED if he'd grasp the timeliness
or historical significance of that world famous
quote.

(2) "Have you smoothed out your OWN financial
improprieties/injustices??" (--I can just hear
the tinny, tiny cog wheels, er, 'twirling'
in his little mind: "Well, gee, ya always
hurt the ones you love(d), waddn't that a top
40 tune way back? Duddn't 'at validat( ) me" ?
[Even when this guy thinks, he can't spell right.]

Ranter running away now, but this guy is a
dangerous, hopeless embarrassment to my state,
Illinois. Can he be so high on his ego fumes
that he doesn't see his own shabby, shameless
hypocrisy, or rank disjunct between his public
and private persona?

How he can attempt to sway public opinion
away from more sane reflections by insulting
our VETS--that's QUITE beyond me. Yes,
the nation's (and world's) "Occupy" movement
folks deserve some criticism; some individuals
SHOULD go to jail--but not the whole of the many
thousands, and ESPECIALLY....

Respect our VETS, and our police. Yes, there
are bad ones, but they inevitably stand out,
sooner or later. Chicago retired policeman
Burge has been formally outted as the sick,
sadistic soul he is/was. Justice occurs,
occasionally.

But don't expect fairness from Rep. Walsh.
All he wants is to see his pretty face
plastered all over the media for a few
more years. What ELSE, I'd like to know,
DOES the man have to offer?

You know, I might like to have seen Walsh,
Bachmann and Palin in the movies or on
TV. But since they depart from even the
simplest rational scripts, I'll
only accept their presence in the funny
papers.

Hey, 99%ers: Time to Take the "Occupy" Movement to the 2012 Elections

2011-11-17T19:51:00.000-08:00

I feel sad and angry, probably much like the
99%ers occupying NYC, Chicago, Portland and
elsewhere. Inexperienced or incompetent or brutal
police have upped the ante, (along with demonstrators);
blood's been spilled and hundreds are arrested.
Intransigence will now, predictably, harden,
and much of the righteous moral message/
outrage will be obscured by the grim street
theater. There is a real danger that public
perception/approval will start shifting away
from the "Occupy" folks.

A few of the many complex aspects of these issues
swirling around the phenomenon occupy ME right
about now:

(1) This U.S. recession and wretched capitalist
excess does NOT equal the Arab Spring, although I'm
certain that has inspired many of the young
"Occupiers". Neither is it a new idea; "Hooverville"
was a DC tent city which sprang up when Hoover didn't pay
veterans long-promised bonuses which were needed
during the desperate depression era of the 1930s.
The campers were evicted by troops/police; if
the bonuses were EVER paid, I'd be extremely surprised.

(2) There are few who understand/respect the
concept of public or private outdoor spaces
or places. I knew it would all roll downhill
when the tents went up and people didn't leave
at around 10 P.M. every night. Twelve hours
every day, from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M., is STILL
a powerful statement, but noooooo....

(3) There is less than a year to influence
Congress and the state legislators to heed
the better angels of their natures. It's
STILL possible, why not try it?? I have, and
I think I succeeded, at least temporarily.
Changing the laws, i.e., the system, is where
the rubber meets the road, make no mistake.
Not all advances toward civilization have
occurred via violence or revolution, although
many did.

I'll be happier when the "Occupy" leadership
circles tackle this tactic, which has a better
chance to make an impact....

If only I could get more people to believe it.

The Republican Field: Wide but not Deep

2011-11-14T14:58:00.000-08:00

--So many candidates, so little time! The Republicans
should surely be able to produce better candidates
than the likes of Michelle Bachmann and Herman Cain.
As to Mr. Cain, it is disheartening to see him still
at the top of Republican voter polls--what DOES it take
to knock this rich ignoramus off of his top perch?
Maybe all he has to do is keep talking; after awhile,
even the most blinkered among his supporters will have
to notice the big foot he keeps in his mouth. Republican
women won't be able to blithely ignore four or more
separate sexual harassment complaints forever.

Eight or more candidates, none of which seems particularly
promising, line up for debates these days. I predict Romney
and Gingrich ending up as the top contenders for the nomination.
Gingrich should have bowed out of the limelight years ago,
his Contract with America having proven an ill-advised failure,
many of his true believers in Congress having been summarily
turned out when voters came to their senses.

--And Romney? Well, he seems a bit improved since 2008. Still,
none of these guys are getting my vote. I'll go with Mr. O,
or a Green Party candidate, depending on who that is.
Where are the distinguished Republicans of yore? You know,
Percy, Lugar, Hagel, etc., intelligent, thoughtful moderates
that served in the Senate.

Since we've all been immersed in football lore lately,
I'll steal one of its metaphors; the republican field:
wide but not deep.

PSU, P.U.! Paterno Scapegoating Backfires: Everyone Who Knew Should Go

2011-11-09T12:14:00.000-08:00

I'm not particularly a football fan, even though
I was a fairly good athlete in high school. This
latest scandal, though, has hit my last nerve.
Top officials at Pennsylvania State, attempting
to shift the spotlight's glare away from themselves
by excoriating old Joe Paterno have ironically
emphasized their OWN legal as well as moral
culpability instead.

According to the Redeye, a "sib of the Trib"
(-Chicago Tribune), Joe Paterno followed state
law by notifying his superior when Mike McQueary
came to him with his horrifying eye witness report
of abuse. However, after PSU ignored the charge, Paterno
didn't inform police, as both he and Mike McQueary
should have done if they cared about children's welfare
more than their jobs or friendships. These two did the
legal minimum, nothing more. How they could continue
their employment with a PSU administration which allowed
the Sandusky outrage to go on for God knows how long
quite escapes me.

I have often quit jobs where unfair practices occurred.
It didn't matter whether I, my supervisors, or my clients
were being badly treated: if I couldn't stop it, I left,
period. I never had a savings account or cushion to land
on, but some things MUST take priority over one's personal
needs/concerns. I survived taking these risky stands, even
though surely paying a price--well worth it.

I'd love to see a federal law be enacted that mandates if
any adult witnesses a serious crime, particularly against
minors, but fails to report it, such a witness becomes
legally liable (-something on the order of accessory after
the fact). Some states do have such statutes, but why not
all 50? Meanwhile, moral compasses must be relied
upon, and many are defective or non-existent, sadly.
--Update: Mike McQueary is still on staff after the firing
of Paterno and crew. Shouldn't EVERYONE who knew but
sat on their hands have been fired? --Years ago??

Scapegoating Joe Paterno didn't protect PSU's reputation.
It's now obvious just how bankrupt the sports culture there
has become, where children are sacrificed to protect image
and friendship.

Weakening the Moral Argument: Bad Behavior

2011-11-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

The moment someone crosses that invisible line,
any cause is seriously compromised. Whoever
piggybacked onto the peaceful "Occupy Oakland"
demonstrations really doesn't care about positive
outcomes or whether criminal actions harm the
movement. There is a strong element of irrationality
here as well: in a down economy, why would anyone want
to cause taxpayers, AHEM, the 99%ers, to shell out
more money to clean up/repair Oakland's downtown
damage?

The "Occupy" demonstrators all around the U.S. really
should decamp at 10PM every night, to shower, sleep,
leave the parks and public areas relatively pristine,
again saving taxpayers precious monies for upkeep
and any extra police. Defying the park closing laws
isn't logically or morally supportable.

Meanwhile, in pursuing the lofty goal of justice for
everyman, we'd best be careful not to sink to
objectionable methods or actions.

When we aren't, people will stop listening.
Who wants to follow anybody uncomfortably
similar to the bad guys?

Class Warfare? Always There

2011-10-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

Lately the media has sounded various warnings
about the dangers of inciting class warfare, as if
it hasn't constantly existed for thousands of years.
--Disingenuous, to say the least!

Why shouldn't the 99% be very upset about the fact
that the 1% control 40% or so of the nation's finances?
How is that just, or even tenable, long term? Following
the money yields disturbing practices, all illegal, special
exemptions/exceptions not available to the rest of us, etc.
What these rich, self-involved yahoos miss is, eventually
their bad decisions will redound back to THEM.

I'd applaud such poetic justice if it didn't require the
rest of us to be dragged down with them.

--Class warfare? Always there, always unfair.

The Great Panic of 1837: Required Reading

2011-10-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

--Especially for those who would lead us. But what ARE
our politicians and financiers reading? Not American
history, certainly. Anyone acquainted with Andrew Jackson's
witless deregulation of the banks or his dismantling of
the Central Bank can recall what came next--rampant
speculation and a recession--er, a depression, ah, NO,
an actual economic panic, one of the two or three worst
in U.S. history.

Fast forward to the late 1920's, ANOTHER largely deregulated
era in the U.S., wild speculation, and--the Great Depression
of the 1930's. Franklin Roosevelt luckily heeded his gifted
advisers, enacting the two key banking acts of 1933 and 1934,
otherwise known as Glass-Steagall. These regs remained in force
until the end of Clinton's term, when Sen. Phil Gramm and his
cohorts persuaded the starry-eyed greedy in Congress to allow
Glass-Steagall to expire, citing modern times, a different, new
economic reality, what could go wrong, etc. Exotic financial
"instruments" grew like irradiated dandelions gone wild, and
voila, the Great Recession of 2008-20--.

It's deeply dispiriting, to see that, basically, people never
learn, or at best, do not permanently retain valuable lessons.
How then, will civilization ever evolve or even survive? Are
humans just like silly deer overpopulating and overeating in
the forest, oblivious of the consequences to tomorrow?

Sans the required reading, and heeding, I fear we are.

Smart Strength: What We Need NOW

2011-09-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

--Gloom and Doom, just in time for the advent of Fall!
Sure, the market tanked today by 3+%, but panic is NOT
advised. We should always remember the market is MOSTLY
a psychological artifact, which has both positive and
negative aspects. Adopting attitudes around positive practices
right now can move the world economy eventually into the
black, despite dispiriting, real, seemingly intractable problems.

RESOLVE NUMBER ONE:
"We can fix this; we WILL fix this." Just such a simple
determination is what has gotten humanity through every
other major crisis in its history, a lesson we should
NEVER forget. All further actions and policies must flow
from that resolve.

RESOLVE NUMBER TWO:
"We can't give up." No further explication required.

RESOLVE NUMBER THREE:
"DON'T panic." Again, self-explanatory.

RESOLVE NUMBER FOUR:
"Get organized with a step-by step plan." But,
aren't the world's toffs ALREADY doing/implementing
same? I would say....NO. I subscribe to an economics
newsletter put out by a former IMF Chief Economist,
consult other sources, which lead me to conclude,
sadly, there is precious little cogent leadership, be it
corporate, political, or academic. Instead I find fear,
greed, inaccuracy, denial, dithering, not getting down
to brass tacks, sharply partisan politics, etc. Surely
you can supply any lacks I've overlooked.

Smart strength: what we need right now--Let's find some.

"A Sign from God", All Right

2011-09-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

Allowing Michelle Bachmann to stick her foot in
her mouth recently was an inspired move from on high,
in my opinion. After her tasteless "joke" that God
sent DC a message via climate upheaval went public,
many on both sides of the political divide excoriated
her, and rightly so. Some things just aren't funny,
a concept Ms. Bachmann plainly doesn't get....

--But she'll get it now, I predict. After 40 lost
lives and billions in damages to be paid by the
taxpayers, whatever support she's enjoyed should
drop off sharply; even conservatives have pity for
disaster victims and destruction.

"A Sign from God"?--yeah, Michelle. Did you get it
yet?

Nuclear Plant Operators, A Timely Reminder: Earthquakes Happen

2011-08-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

A Colorado quake shook the Richter Scale above 5
today, and just a few hours later, another quake
tipped too close to 6 on the East Coast. No reports
of fatalities so far, thankfully. These events were
scarcely expected, especially along the Eastern Seaboard;
monuments in DC were affected, the full extent yet to be
determined.

Two Nuclear Plants in Virginia were shut down; no
radiation escaped the plant, we're told. But depending
on random luck, which IS what we're doing, operating
many aging plants, is courting disaster. Any reactors
along either coasts is subject to a Fukushima-type quake
and tsunami scenario. Even without a tsunami, a quake could
disrupt the coolant water supply, leading to a meltdown.

Here's hoping saner minds prevail among the powerful,
deciding to scale back this technology, eventually
shuttering it in the U.S. for good.

The Constitution: Corrections Long Overdue

2011-08-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

Our Constitution, much lauded and copied
worldwide, nevertheless is far from perfect.
I can think of several of its stipulations
which should land in the dustbin of history:

(1) In Article One, the granting of marque
and reprisal, essentially permitting piracy,
we need this why?

(2) Wherever African Americans are referred to
in there as "3/5ths of all other persons..."
well, THAT'S got to go. Subsequent amendments
following Emancipation and the Civil War do not
specifically redress/address this arrogantly inhuman,
inaccurate language. The 14th Amendment does change
the basis for electing members of the House, without,
however, apologizing to Native or African Americans.

(3) The Second Amendment should be further clarified,
as the part regarding "a well-regulated militia" seems
to have entirely skipped over too many people's feeble
understanding. AK47s and their ilk should be completely
outlawed except for wartime use, and only licensed 22s
and 38s allowed WITHIN THE HOME for protection. Hunting,
already regulated, may not require much modification.

The Founders themselves publicly admitted they were only
human, recognized the future would necessitate/create
changes to our founding document. Addressing these three
items here would go a long way to elevate, and humanize,
an America now rushing to a deplorable bottom.

Such corrections, logical and humane, are long overdue.

Time for TIFs to go

2011-08-05T16:38:00.000-07:00

Since they've become little more than sources
of municipal corruption which deprive schools and
other vital entities of needed funds, TIFs should
be outlawed at the federal level. The original helpful
notion, promulgated by Rep. Jack Kemp, has morphed into a
grotesque way to keep tax monies from the public good
but easily available to the politicians. Since when is
Chicago's LaSalle Street, with its Federal Reserve Bank,
etc., a "blighted area"?? (Yeah, blighted by large numbers
of the uncaring rich, maybe.) When former Mayor Daley
crated the LaSalle Street TIF, the proof was in that the
fix was in. No other information necessary to the point.
According to The Reader's Ben Joravsky, Chicago has 160 of
these, relatively few in truly economically depressed areas.

But it gets worse: TIF funds, which were originally intended
to boost economic development in poor neighborhoods, are now
subsidizing large corporations blackmailing the city, the CME
being one. "We'll leave the city unless you fork over millions..."

So LEAVE, already. The fewer thieves left in Chicago, the better.

TIFs: initially an innovative idea perverted by the greedy, now
deserve the ax. --And soon!

Let's Do It: Vote Out all the Incumbents

2011-07-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

Hi ho there, congressmen! I foolishly expected
you to do your job....wow, was I ever disappointed.
But I DO have a strategy, which I will advertise
widely--vote out all the incumbents in 2012.

It's simple: why reward incompetence? The only
thing these nincompoops understand is a threat
to their power and position, simple enough to carry
out by voting in ANYBODY else.

After all, how could anybody else do a worse job?

Time to Execute, Mr. Executive

2011-07-27T06:39:00.000-07:00

Yep, leadership is required--from the President.
If Congress can't get it together to raise the
debt ceiling, which should be a stand-alone
proposition, shorn of tax and spend considerations,
then HE should avail himself of the mechanism which
allows him to do so. What's he waiting for, Christmas?
If so, most of those serving in Congress and the White
House will be gone in 2012. Nothing like starvation
and other serious economic loss to galvanize the
population into political retribution.

Mr. Obama, haven't you heard of the saying,"just do it"?
Well, damn it, just DO IT. Save us from the double-dip,
from endangering the entire world economy. etc., etc.

With a stroke of your pen, just do it.

Politicians, Beware: 2012 Waits for You

2011-07-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

The August 2nd debt ceiling deadline debacle rockets
ever closer. Solve it NOW, or see your legislative
careers end abruptly. Who will vote you back in office
if such a negative historic marker occurs, all just
because of politics? There IS enough money in this nation
to pay our damn outstanding debt, count on it. Why
should the super-rich remain untouched while everyone else
suffers? They're simply holding on to their kale, not
hiring, which would be the ONLY reason not to dun them
as they deserve. They made their fortunes here, let their
taxes reflect that. If this is the greatest country in the
world, let them contribute to it, not merely themselves.

If there IS waste, fraud and abuse, let that be exposed
and expunged, along with the massive incompetence which
ruins us by the hour. Both prongs of attack, raising revenues
and cutting any improvident spending, would resolve the debt
mess fairly quickly. But:

Lingering too long on extremist, ideologue positions while the
calendar marches on to August WILL have consequences.

To you.

Declare Your Independence from Ignorance

2011-07-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

Shocking news: 24% of adult Americans are unsure
as to exactly when, and from whom, we declared our
independence. Recent polls describe the country's
woeful ignorance, a continuing embarrassment.
--The greatest country in the world? Maybe, maybe
not, but possibly the most ignorant. Santayana said
those ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it,
a caution it's wise to remember. While there's little
danger of Great Britain reasserting its authority
over the U.S., other dangers loom, most fueled by
careless attention to relevant facts.

Truth, Justice, the American Way, isn't that what
we're celebrating this Fourth of July? It's time,
however, for a new declaration: Independence from
Ignorance.

Let's do it today, there's not a moment to lose.

Meeting the Moderates: an Illinois Inspiration

2011-06-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

Articles written in even well-respected publications
often lead the reader to erroneous conclusions/
generalizations, to wit, all republicans are right-wing
intransigents, it's useless to attempt a meaningful dialogue
on important issues. A similar scenario attends reportage
about democrats, they're all over-spending quasi-socialists.
TV, radio and the web are also happy to exaggerate/
sensationalize, fearing the audience disappears otherwise.
Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times said so quite clearly
in his regular column just last week.

But here's hope: why not meet the legislators? In Illinois, they
are far more accessible, willing to entertain a notion,
than one might think. Out of 59 state senators, at least four
are moderate republicans. Recently I've met with them, discussing
my energy concerns. They've thanked me and my friends, listened
to us, seemed to appreciate getting the material we brought them.
Two bills that were worrying were tabled because of these
approaches. This is an amazing lesson in political engagement
and reaching out to those beyond one's comfort zone....a positive
one.

Each of us has more power than we might be prepared to
believe. Take that gamble, reach out to those you ordinarily
assume won't be interested in your positions.

You just might be glad you did, to say nothing of the rest
of us.

BLOGGER, RETURN MY FOLLOWERS!!

2011-06-09T18:12:00.001-07:00

Watcher, Cletis, Underground Politics,
Heather, Chili Pepper's Mom, Ms. Klasing,
Kit James, and a few newer ones, please
continue to comment even though Blogger
has removed your photo links to the function.
I wish you all well.
Amber

Memorial Day: Let's Be Worthy of Their Ultimate Sacrifice

2011-05-30T06:06:00.000-07:00

Why, exactly, did all our service men and women die?
To preserve our way of life, our freedoms, so the usual
cant goes. But:

(1) ARE we "free"? Not quite to the level we enjoyed
before 911; witness the Patriot Act and the cavalier
disregard of the FISA court's stipulations. Librarians
must "give up" titles of checked-out books, ditto sellers
their lists of books bought by credit cards or online. Then
there's the Rapiscan (Rapescan) intrusion at our major
airports, which Mr. Chertoff promoted WHILE employed as Bush
II's Homeland honcho. You can recall other outrages, I'm sure.

(2) Our "Way of Life"? --What's that, exactly? A rush to the
bottom which has continued for decades, exploited/promoted
by canny NYC Madison Ave. ad types, always and everywhere
inserting "you" and "yours", as if each of us is the only
important thing on the planet, instead of the "greatest good
for the greatest number". (That U.S. number is now way TOO big,
some 309 millions worth, thanks to "too much fun".)

(3) What about willful, dangerous denial of all inconvenient
truths?
(a) Nah, nuclear reactors aren't dangerous, the triple tragedy
in Japan can't happen here, OUR technology is better than theirs.
(HEY, Theirs ARE OURS, we sold the design specs to them.
GE Mark Is are there AND here.)
(b) Our Exceptionalism is ruining our relationships worldwide, as
many in the other 199 nations simply know better. We DO have
"healthy" nuclear weapons, more than anywhere else; "MAD"
is dead. We also boast the largest agribusiness combines on Earth,
but brutality to animals by factory farm workers has been
documented via video. We also pollute more than most,
due to our NOT-retrofitted factories, utilities, car engines.
Other occurrences abound, but best to limit the verbiage.

On Memorial Day I mourn and laud those who put others before
themselves, our brave service men and women. But there's a lot
of re-examination and personal revamping to be done before we'll
be worthy of them and their noble, ultimate sacrifice.

It's the Society, Stupid

2011-05-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

After reading yet another article explaining the
arbitrary, unjust practices/philosophies of the current
corporate world's hiring, I became angry yet again.
Here are THE "NEW RULES" as designed by these people,
the very people keeping the U.S. unemployed at a
historic nine plus percent:

(1) Don't be old. This means you even if you're only
49. This is probably based on marketing's prime
consumer age range, 18-49. Retail generally considers
everyone else zombies, or at least unimportant.
This number was arrived at long ago, should have been
modified more recently in the interest of reality.
(But what's logic got to do with it, or even noticing
change, cause and effect? How about "rules" for that?)

(2) Don't be unemployed long term. Have these CEOs or
HR heads heard of the Great Recession of 2008-2011??
Do they understand that middle class college grads
can't leap at any "opportunity" of getting even low
wage jobs, for two very key reasons:
(a) employers don't want to hire them, feeling/knowing
they will leave as soon as a better job presents itself;
(b) middle class college grads understandably would
like to stay in their accustomed lane; moreover, need
to, as foreclosures and auto repossessions loom.

There were more "rules", but best to stop here.
Very few things still seem sensible in the U.S.
of 2011. The different parts which must fit together
in order to have a great society simply DON'T.
Yes, it was ever thus, let's look back at Shakespeare,
"the times, they are disjoint". But it's worse now,
if several recent decades are compared with this one.

Character issues abound; overall morality has definitely
declined. Hard-headed equals being practical, profitable.
Social mobility formerly meant upward, now mostly means
downward. Where's the blame? It's the economy, stupid.
Underlying that, far more troubling:

It's the society, stupid.

"Reform's" Many Forms: Nothing New

2011-05-16T22:53:00.000-07:00

I'm turning Biblical, start running now. One of
the more interesting books in the Old Testament
says all is vanity, nothing new under the Sun.
(Except for the clothes and gadgets, that is.)
But we are encouraged to enjoy the fruits of our
labor nonetheless. In Chicago, the political scene
is largely about vanity, not reform, ambition, not
the greater good.

Heralded all over local Chicagoland media is our
"new day", because the City Council and the Mayor
are sporting new faces. Yet the "dreams", problems
and goals are the same compelling ones that have
preoccupied us for many decades. Who is OPPOSED to
better education, no/low crime, balanced budgets, etc.?
Rahm Emanuel emphasized these during his swearing in
today down by the lake. Chicago's Mayor will not likely
fix these matters. The causes are cultural, economic,
endemic and long standing:

(1) EDUCATION: Most kids (and their parents) simply
lack gravitas, meaning, in America it's practically
a federal offense to basically be a serious, goal-oriented
person. The never-ending search for gratification and
novelty often sidelines serious research, serious productivity,
serious problem-solving. (By the way, I hate fun, and you
can quote me.) Recalling the high rate of substance abuse,
divorce, crime, etc., it's very hard to be optimistic.
Whatever "reforms" are enacted, given this cultural context,
how are we going to make the kids do their job, which is to study?
Tackle THAT one, Rahmster Monster.

(2) BUDGET WOES: Who will be stiffed, left out, victimized
by benign neglect? Will pensions be funded? Are certain
unions really expecting too much? Should teachers be required
to keep up since their students are? (-Don't worry, many more
questions could be inserted here, but I'll refrain....) Then
there's the ugly phenomenon of NIMBY, i.e., you won't be making
me sacrifice in MY backyard, noooo....

Time to recur once again to the Good Book. I'm hoping to
escape all the hackneyed phrases and promises designed to
soothe our troubled minds, but I doubt it; humanity hasn't
changed markedly in 2,000 years.

When God or Jesus speak I see sense.
And you can quote me.

Sarah Palin's "Spudnut Moment" (-!)

2011-05-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

--Finally! Is Sarah P the new Mrs. Potato Head?
There is no disrespect intended toward the little
shop in Washington State she referred to in an
endearing "small business, the heart of America"
lengthy, hectoring aside. She seemed to misread
President Obama's inspirational intentions and the
history of Spudnuts.

While making these mistakes, she included erroneous
summaries of the Cold War and the Soviet Union's end.
Nothing like being on a roll....

Tsk, tsk. She may be pretty, but all I see is
Mrs. Potato Head, also usually shown smiling.

P.S.: This further foray into coining new words
and punning didn't float: Sputnik vs. Spudnut?
At best, a spurious alliteration. (Hey, Sarah,
it's not "Spudnik", if that's what you're going
for....)

What's Logic Got to do With It? Logic, a Secondhand "Emotion"

2011-05-04T07:33:00.001-07:00

Tina Turner's hit often comes to mind when watching
the antics, policies,and justifications of governments
around the world, ours included. If logic, cause and
effect considerations WERE the rule of the day, every
day, well, there would still be volcanoes, but far
less violence, tragedy, wasted time and material
destruction.

Please, I'm pleading for specificity, deeper research,
more thought before speech, all those virtues bespeaking
of demonstrable intelligence. All else reduces into
rabble/babble, eventually. Venting is ideal when we
feel more "air" than "heat", see the light.

Consider the logic; consider our common humanity.

Trump Retools, Trumped by his Own Tool

2011-04-30T11:13:00.000-07:00

Donald Trump, he of the most ridiculous "hairdo"
for a "hair's done" male in America, has himself
been forced back to the drawing board. Not a natty
draftsman, but a batty one, his "forcing Obama
to reveal his long form birth certificate" has
in turn forced The Donald back to the political
drafting table for a new tool. (He really should
have taken up Physics, where he would have learned
about action/reaction pairs.)

The latest attempt to "legally" discredit the sitting
president involves highly dubious ruminations regarding
Mr. Obama's college transcripts. What a weak tool Trump
now employs! He must have forgotten/not known what
a drunken, poor student Bush II was, that he got into
Yale on a "legacy" provision, that other U.S. presidents
such as Lincoln and Truman couldn't boast of formal, stellar
scholarship....which didn't make them poor presidents any
more than his Princeton background made Wilson a great one.

President Obama, of course, didn't help himself either,
earlier on. Back in the heady days of Campaign 2008, he
should have released the long form. To have delayed on
such a serious constitutional challenge was not politically
sound; every scurrilous aspersion/attack need not be
answered, but the important ones MUST be.

Meanwhile, Trump should trash his current, crude attack
on the president. Pursuant to his First Amendment privileges,
The Donald can critique away. The best tool of all
would be a relevant fact; finding one is just too hard
for the Trumpster.

Ashamed to be a Woman, Again

2011-04-14T21:11:00.000-07:00

--Not again! A woman killed herself and her children
because her idiot husband cheated on her? Why involve the
kids? An insult to this female's womanhood comes
before the children's welfare? The pathetic story has
now been told by the intrepid ten year old sibling who
saved himself at the last moment.

Of course it's happened before. Who ARE these low-class
females? --Cases of arrested development, period, oh so
high school. No man is THAT important. How desperate, crazy
and stupid must any woman be to kill kids as some misplaced
revenge ("--I'll show HIM, hah!"). I'm betting that as he's
the stepfather, this cheater is less than destroyed over such
a needless tragedy.

Sometimes I'm sorely tempted to propose legislation that adults
must be psychologically tested as fit before being permitted to
bring others into this world.

Meanwhile, in addition to being embarrassed to be a human,
I'm ashamed to be a woman, AGAIN.

Out of the Mouths of Knaves

2011-04-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

The Big Lie is alive, well and kicking, while
an urgent deadline's clock is ticking. The
current stumbling block to passing a bill
to continue funding the federal government
is IDEOLOGICAL, period. Who are Congessional
Republicans and Democrats kidding?

If our national debt total is about 14 trillion,
how is killing Planned Parenthood, Head Start
and a few other programs going to resolve that
debt? The agreed-upon amount of cuts now totals
an unimpressive amount, far less than 100 billion.
Rep. Boehner's "principled digging in" represents
nothing more than appealing to his base. --What??
Can't the rep and/or his supporters add? Actually,
they don't care to. It's one set of sacred cows
against another set. Republicans, though, would
rather increase U.S. debt by funding sexy technology
(new nukes and warplanes) and only very slightly
decrease it by slashing programs to the poor.

The USA's GDP is about the same amount as the debt;
economists used to say that average, more or less
solvent Americans carried debt equal to one year's
income. So why all the horrified howls now?

How about an honest exploration/explanation of
the issues, NOW? If it's really just simple ignorance,
head back to grammar school math class.

If not, it's obfuscating orotund blather out of the
mouths of knaves.

A Real Civilization Built on More Than Pride, Prejudice and Profit

2011-04-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

Certain words get tossed about with surprising impunity.
One of these is "civilization". Has anybody ever SEEN one?
Please don't belabor/berate the obvious: if you think
wealth and impresive architecture inevitably denote
civilization, you and I will surely move on to a stiff
debate.

Since most of the imperialistic colonizers were unable
to control overpopulating their original homelands, how
did they become masters of the universe? Why, by the tried
and true methods effective for thousands of years: explora-
tions, military "adventures", conquests, occupations, etc.
"Oh, was this your country? Sorry, it's OURS now." (Usually
there's no apology tendered, though. After all, if I want
something, it's my right to get/have, no??)

--NO!! Civilization to ME means being kind and non-exploitative,
among many other fine qualities I rarely see exhibited among the
Western nations guilty of the lion's share of colonialism. I do
see one annoyingly stupid quality expressed time after time;
public statement of "innocent" dismay and confusion, to wit:
"Why do so many other countries hate us?"

Gee, let me get this, lemme! What reaction can anyone expect
when strangers come in, kill, change your way of life, and start
sucking your natural resources dry?--Hugs, thanks and kisses?

So again: a real civilization must be built on more than
pride, prejudice and profit. When it isn't, I call it
"the victor took the spoils", again.

React Now: Review ALL GE Mark I's and Mark II's

2011-03-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

Japan's triple tragedy suggests important
warnings for the United States and any other
nation with GE Mark I nuclear reactors online.
Japan's failing reactors in Fukushima Prefecture
are mostly Mark I's.

The GE Mark I has long been known as relatively
poor engineering. In 1986, Harold Denton, formerly of
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), said the
GE Mark I's small reactor vessel and suppression pool
problems make this a poor design. Dr. Michio Kaku,a
theoretical physicist, author and science popularizer,
had other reservations about the Mark I's even
earlier in that decade.

Here in Illinois four of our eleven nuclear reactors
online are Mark I's; ours went online only a few
years before Japan's, in the mid 1970s. Even though
our earthquake faultline is less frequently, dramatically
active than those in Japan, still, we DO have one, the
New Madrid Fault, running under Missouri and Illinois.

200 years ago the New Madrid really kicked up, heaving
great devastation throughout the Midwest....when is the
next big one? Disturbingly, no seismologist can predict the
timing of any such large scale event, or smaller quakes
either; Chicagoland felt two tiny ones in recent months.

What's to be done? Here are some suggestions for now:

(1) Review ALL 23 GE Mark I's in the U.S., SOON.
While they're at it, throw in inspections of Mark II's
as well. Around the world, inspect them all.

(2) Send GE's nuclear reactor engineers to Japan immediately.
These designs were not great technology on a good day; now,
after a BAD day, GE should stand behind its products AND its customers.

It's the right thing to do. But to avoid future shock, please:

(3) Establish a U.S. federal moratorium on new nuclear plant
projects, effective immediately. Then, when theorizing potential
worst-case scenarios, be constructively more "negative"; experts
here and abroad "didn't expect quakes this severe, beyond 8.0",
etc. Why not?? Why not a TWELVE, someday? It IS possible if not
likely.

Reacting sensibly now could avoid a world of pain later.

Kicking the Can Down the Road: As Good As it Gets

2011-03-10T05:18:00.000-08:00

After mature reflection, I've come to a daunting realization:
No reform, program, policy or philosophy, however well-thought
out, however reality-based, will likely stand forever.
You can recall many important pieces of legislation which
were effective and long-lasting, yet have joined the heaping
ever-higher pile in the dustbin of history, at least for the
foreseeable future.

Glass-Steagall, the two banking acts from the '30s, were
created by two men who understood that greed gone wild is
not good. Consequently, the ensuing recessions were not
nearly as serious as the Great Recession of 2008-2010. G-S
was ended by Phil Gramm and crew ten years earlier; with
G-S still the law, the Great Recession might have been much
more of a yawn.

Being America requires the regular reinventing of our laws,
the very basis for what we believe is the greatest good for
the greatest number. Social Security, just one example, has
been under attack ever since it was enacted. Yet what would
certain conservatives have the elderly and their not-rich
families do? It ISN'T always a case of the grasshopper vs.
the ants: sometimes illness, recessions, mergers, business
failures, etc. conspire to leave the old without investments
or savings.

Administrations comes and go, programs and policies do the
same. Regarding those controversial, problematic programs,
saving THEM means kicking the can down the road 'til next
time, always arguing the points as if these are brand new issues.

Check your world history books. Kicking the can down the road
is as good as it ever gets.

REFUTE NEWT, 2012: Stop Showboating, Scapegoating

2011-03-03T16:45:00.000-08:00

Let us reflect, return to yesteryear, so as to
inform those younger or more forgetful Americans
about this disappointing product of Georgia Tech.:

Newt Gingrich was the man of the hour in the mid '90s
behind, beside and fronting The Contract with America.
He and his "new" Conservative Revolution succeeded in
(temporarily) capturing the U.S. House. However, as
more and more realized what was/would be in the fine
print of that contract, the tide of opinion turned;
he and his (along with those deceptively intellectual
idiots, the Tofflers) enjoyed a really short revolution,
the next two votes ('96 and '98) shoving most of those
extremists right through the revolving door, out of power.

This so-called conservatism is nothing new, going back
to kings, dictators and their ministers. Laissez Faire
only works for a few; it was ever thus. For millenia there
was no middle class, mark THAT, those who would bring back
two classes: what makes some of you think YOU'D be entitled
to vault to the top rank??

It's getting very wearing, these attacks on the lower and
middle classes. Having a continuum of economic strata,
if you will, merely means such a society recognizes that
people and circumstances vary, there can't be all indians
and no chiefs, or all chiefs, no indians, or even indians and
chiefs, nobody else. Who doesn't understand that?? I marvel
in horror and disgust.

Some of these super right wingers surely must have grandparents
living on Social Security, close relatives in unionized jobs. Do
they honestly think family will forgive being reduced to dire
straits by their "courageously philosophical" relatives? Worse,
do they just not care?

Beware, Newt. The scapegoats you roast today may become you
and your thoughtlessly less-studious political friends tomorrow.

Entangling Alliances, Strangling Alliances

2011-03-02T05:57:00.000-08:00

The title says it all, almost, about our current
world economic situation; but really, for any truly
thinking American adult, this should be old news.
For me, I was warned back in high school, (about
50 years ago, yikes!) when we students read
George Washington's writings, particularly
his Farewell Address. Published on the anniversary
of the Constitution in 1796, it is as if written
today, with every major potential and actual
international reality/problem discussed in its
few, pointed pages:

(1) Disagree with our excessive commitment to Israel?
Yep, he covered that: "The nation which
indulges toward another an habitual hatred or
an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.
It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection,
either of which is sufficient to lead it astray
from its duty and its interest."

(2) Worried about the Tea Party when it rattles
AK 47s, yet "preaches" piety? G.W. mentions
that too: "Observe good faith and justice toward
all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.
Religion and morality enjoin this conduct."
"Can it be that Providence has not connected the
permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue?"

(3) Concerned about atavistic isolationism?
Don't be, George Washington didn't recommend
it: "...in extending our commercial relations
to have with them as little POLITICAL connection
as possible..." Yet: "...let me not be understood
as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing
engagements." "Harmony, liberal intercourse with
all nations are recommended by policy, humanity
and interest."

(4) Wishing we were willing, ready and able to
switch from hostage-to-oil status to home-grown
renewables? Here Washington shines as a realist:
"But even our commercial policy should hold an equal
and impartial hand, neither seeking nor granting
exclusive favors or preferences;...constantly keeping
in view that it is folly in one nation to look for
disinterested favors from another; that it must pay
with a portion of its independence for whatever it
may accept under that character." (At $4.00+ per gallon,
we're paying, we're paying....) By entering into trade
agreements for absurdly lengthy periods, making them
quasi-permanent, we forgot Honest George's lessons,
particularly with one precariously precious, politically-
affected commodity, oil.

Lastly, the most memorable moment in the speech:
"Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of
any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity
in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest,
humor, or caprice? It is our true policy to steer
clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the
foreign world..." Thomas Jefferson seemed to admire
this notion so much, he poached from this 1796 speech
for one of his own five years later, coining a short,
snappy saying, "entangling alliances". (Of course
Jefferson, in his highly partisan fondness for the
French, managed to ignore another caution in the
Farewell Address, overlooking the murderous excesses
during their revolution.)

Strangling alliances are now what we have; Nixon and
Clinton should have their academic history credits withdrawn,
not having heeding Washington, a far greater president than
either of THEM.

George Washington, Still Right and Upright

2011-02-22T07:17:00.000-08:00

It's George Washington's birthday again,
the father of our country, a term he
richly deserves. All in all, he was our
best President, even above Lincoln and
FDR. (Did you know his will directed
wife Martha to free their slaves, while
Jefferson did no such thing?) He comported
himself admirably, always aware he was
setting precedent, an Enlightenment exponent
if there ever was one, even besting the
wordier Benjamin Franklin in certain respects.

Washington thought highly of Alexander Hamilton's
intelligence and authorship, having Hamilton
write many of his speeches. But the essay
warning of "entangling alliances" was Washington
at his most experienced and heartfelt best.
What has history shown since? That trade,
travel and imperialism gone wild has given
the U.S. and the rest of Earth a world of trouble.

Examples abound, but currently, the U.K. is seriously
rethinking its ties to Libya, as Libya has just killed
a number of its own protesters. (Moamar Ghaddafi isn't
as kind as other dictators in his region.) Pirates
recently killed four Americans on their yacht near
Oman. Three years ago, the news was awash with reports
that our "friend/trading partner" China sent us
contaminated baby bibs, pet food,wood, ad infinitum.
Every instance of these negative international interactions
reminds me of Honest George and his farewell speech.
There's a sensible balance between isolationism and
world travel/babble run amok. Looking toward a more
sane world, it behooves us to find it.

George Washington: still right, ever upright, an
example all in public life should periodically
recur to.

Egypt's Heroes: Hope for Humanity

2011-02-03T07:05:00.000-08:00

Hooray for the "ordinary" citizens who've linked arms
and saved their main museum from low-life looters,
thoughtless destroyers of irreplaceable, tangible history.
The Egyptian Army deserves kudos as well, of course.
THESE are the outstanding people in all the last ten
days' Egyptian fury, NOT:

(1) Mr. Obama, who, while being the somewhat tepid
"voice of reason", actually COULD have been more effective.
(--How about this: "If you don't step down now, Mr.
Mubarak, we will withhold our annual gift of one
plus billion dollars to Egypt.") Before anyone rejects
such a notion out of hand, allow me to remind you
that the U.S. thinks nothing of issuing and enforcing
sanctions/blockades when it deems it appropriate;

(2) Mr. Mubarak, who, while giving the U.S. and Israel
what is wanted/needed, has "served" in a thirty-year
dictatorship with massive corruption at every level of
Egyptian life, including university professor-doled
"good grades". Here's more that's unsupportable: extremely
high unemployment, expensive/scarce foodstuffs, shocking
percentages of illiteracy. Oh Mr. M., everybody knows
you're 82, even though the dark dye hair job is pretty
convincing. You're no Sadat, which you amply proved after
just a few years "in office". (--What's with not allowing
a vice-president until now? --Think you're immortal?)
Yes, we've had our "imperial" public servants too, like
Strom Thurmond, who never gave up his senate post,
as he should have done decades sooner.

I could list many more actors on the current stage,
but it's obvious that much in human life occurs as
a "top down" phenomenon.

Meanwhile, the rational, regular citizens have broken
the conventional mold and are providing inspiration
from the "bottom up". Here are Egypt's heroes,
nothing ordinary about THEM.

High Stakes Energy: Our Lives, Our Fortunes

2011-01-20T17:47:00.000-08:00

*******An Open Letter to President Obama*******
******* Congress, the 50 Statehouses: *******

(Updated several times since January, 2011)

It's been bruited about that many of you are
considering endorsing a "Clean Energy Standard"
which includes the expansion of nuclear power
and "clean" coal this year.

I beg you to reconsider:

There is nothing "clean" about nuclear power. Every
nuclear facility releases toxic radiation into our
air and water on a routine basis. Nuclear reactors
generate highly toxic radioactive waste for hundreds
of thousands to millions of years, depending on the
isotope. They pose a constant threat of catastrophic
meltdown, particularly as they age, due to reactor
embrittlement fracture (Neutrons hitting the primary
containment metal vessel wall, weakening it over time).
Also, as we've seen, partial core melts have happened
around the world because of design flaws and human error.

Yucca Mountain is NOT a geologically stable permanent
radwaste repository: it sits atop an earthquake fault,
Bow Ridge, active within the past ten years, eight other
faults exist nearby; a significant Richter Scale quake
occurred during the 2002 Congressional summer session
deliberating about Yucca Mt. Around the same time, proposed
security escorts for so many shipments from 104 reactors was
taken off Congress's agenda: too expensive.

Three Mile Island (1979) and Chornobyl (1986) are
not the only serious nuclear technology accidents
the world and the U.S. have experienced. There were
Windscale in England (1957), and the Kyshtym nuclear
chemicals fire in the Russian Ural Mountains,
also 1957. Both of these involved large releases of
radionuclides requiring mass destruction of contaminated
animal and plant life, reminiscent of the Chornobyl disaster.
Detroit Fermi's core partially melted, its plant now
decommissioned/recommissioned. Other examples exist here
and abroad, of course....Japan's loss of secondary
containment at its Daiichi reactor complex in Fukushima
Prefecture, along with several core melts is beyond our
worst nightmares coming true.

The world seems to forget that Russia and the United
States both have nuclear powered submarines sunk deep
in the oceans, their sailors permanently entombed. Salt water
is corrosive; over time, these submarine reactors will leak.

"Clean" coal is an oxymoron. Even if carbon could be
captured, which is by no means clear, burning coal
still releases Mercury, generates poisonous coal ash,
and entails destructive mountain top removal.

Carbon is not the only pollutant we must be concerned
about; low carbon doesn't mean "clean". Nuclear power
is far less effective than renewable energy, energy
efficiency and 21st century technologies such as
smart grids and distributed generation at reducing
carbon emissions. In fact, carbon emissions associated
with the nuclear fuel chain are two to six times higher
per kw of electricity produced than solar and wind
power.

Nuclear power is NOT cost effective; even Wall Street
has refused to back nuclear power expansion, the upper
Northwest's WPPSS financial collapse in the 1980's is
just one example. The Price Anderson Act insures
nuclear reactor operators/owners with a laughably
small amount in the event of a meltdown or other
accident.

Perhaps you haven't yet made final decisions on these
critical issues. If not, please do not endorse a
"Clean Energy Standard" that includes expanding nuclear
power and coal in 2011 and beyond. Please take the time to
examine these issues more closely. If you do, you will
find that nuclear power and coal do not merit the United
States' further, future support.

Best Regards,
Best Wishes,
Amber Ladeira
Forest Park, IL

P.S.: Some of the above-stated language, especially the
carbon and coal-related remarks, was suggested by
NIRS in Takoma Park, MD and NEIS in Chicago. I added
whole paragraphs and paraphrased certain sentences. My
thanks to them and other groups around the country for their
unflagging energy and devotion to working toward
a safer, greener world worthy of leaving to our
children.

"Cherry Picking" Among the Sour Grapes

2011-01-12T13:18:00.000-08:00

Shakespeare, even before Emerson, noted that
convention and consistency (custom, tradition)
is often the enemy of sense, sensibility and
solutions. They and others validate a part of my
philosophy: I "Cherry Pick".

At times, when that becomes obvious during a
conversation, those who practice it often earn
opprobium,being accused of yes, cherry picking.
But why NOT pick and choose? Must a theory,
practice or expert's "wisdom" be adopted whole
cloth? There are flaws in everyone's logical
ability, to say nothing of accurate, factual
knowledge, so pick out the best and leave the rest.

After all, in every vineyard, some of the grapes
are bound to be sour.

At Last, Proof of Culture Gone Wrong

2010-12-27T07:04:00.000-08:00

--I've just seen some proof of this contention!
Well, strong evidence, at least: an article
advising women about how to avoid makeup faux pas
engendered SIX HUNDRED comments! How important
is THAT subject, I have to ask?? In contrast, many
important articles and blog posts get far fewer
hits or comments.

It's been said by better minds than mine, but bears
repeating: Focus on light matters to the virtual
exclusion of the more important and urgent will
doom us to repeat Ancient Rome's fate....in our case,
at this rate, we won't have lasted even the 400+
years of their ascendancy. (Rome herself succeeded only
by bloody conquest and a caste/slave system.)

The internet reveals many clues as to society's
state, sad information, much of it. Do your own
survey, if you haven't already. If you are a caring,
intelligent person, you won't like what you see:

(1) Very few articles urging the overhauling of the
country's infrastructure. Instead of spying on so-called
"allies", why not tend to important issues at HOME?

(2) Where is the popular drive toward the greatest good
for the greatest number? Yes, there are caring people,
just NOT enough of them to make the difference. Ask
anyone working/volunteering in any of the helping
agencies, like food depositories/pantries, after-school
programs, the sick or disabled. They will sing my sad
song for you;

(3) The U.S. no longer possesses good, general knowledge
in science, math and history, all of which heavily contribute
to a top tier society. For decades now our students have fared
laughably compared to other nation's pupils; those countries
are catching up to us (some even surpassing us).

The ultimate proof of culture gone wrong is ignoring
a telling reality: we are in this together. "Community"
is another one of those catchwords so lovingly tossed
around, like "democracy" and "meritocracy". It's high time
we demonstrated we understand what those terms mean,
and act accordingly.

There's still time, just barely.

Understanding the True Significance of Reaganomics

2010-12-18T07:58:00.000-08:00

I read a lot of history and economic material, am inclined to
personally pursue "progressive" (whatever true currency any of
these terms can possess) politics/policies/programs. Yet I'm able
to defend Reagan's presidency, at least the first five years,
on at least two important grounds:

(1) Reagan and Gorbachev, due to their personal, FDR-style
openness, put an end to the Cold War. (-Nevermind that we STILL
spy on each other!) Major, more objective, historians say so,
and I recall that memorable Time magazine article describing how
they left their handlers except for two interpreters, later getting
their glasnost underway in the fall of 1987. Some significant
drop in spent monies on the arms race can only be a good thing,
unless you own a munitions factory.

(2) Most of the leftist punditry I've observed only focus
on the negative effects of Supply Side and other policy
deregulating businesses and corporations. But they miss
something extremely significant: Reagan gave the laissez faire
"purists" their chance, and they largely blew it, NOT hiring,
NOT plowing extra profits back into their companies, retrofitting,
etc.

Reagan, a former democrat turned republican, seems to sincerely
have believed the U.S. business community would step up
VOLUNTARILY, (a la Herb Hoover); he successfully pushed
through his deregulatory agenda....including tax breaks for
factory owners to improve and expand their business; this was
called the 10-5-3, few took advantage of it. I think Bob Dole
angrily commented about that, and had this special tax incentive
withdrawn!

Since 1900, TWO U.S. presidents gave business interests their
untrammeled way during economic contractions,which policy
resoundingly failed for all but the wealthiest, most self-obsessed
opportunists. (If you count Bush II, perhaps THREE.)

It isn't logically or rationally possible to dispute a philosophy
for most people to understand its flaws UNLESS it is actually
TRIED. So, listen up, super conservative republicans:
It has BEEN tried; IT HAS FAILED EACH TIME.

The true significance of Reaganomics: the greedy had the
opportunity to prove voluntary compliance for the common
good can work....but they didn't take it.

Bring on regulatory reform.
Just not a true nanny state.

Not The Last Word if I can help it

2010-12-08T07:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Mr. "G.", you misspelled "precedent".
Also, yes, the Bush tax cuts run out soon. What do
you think is happening in the lame duck session?
These cuts will likely be extended, with a few
modest yet key language changes....perhaps you've
heard the expression, "God is in the details"
(-to say nothing of any potential devils).

Good for Mr. O!--About TIME he took the rigid,
the greedy and the ignorantly posturing of BOTH
parties to the woodshed.

NO, we CAN'T do whatever we see in our mind's
eye. Right now I am quite disgusted with a large
fraction of my fellow humans, but I can't teleport
myself to a more advanced planet, even though my
cerebral cortex boasts intelligence and imagination.

But when rushing to post, what's logic got to do with
it? To paraphrase Tina Turner, Logic, a secondhand
"emotion". My fantasy is to suddenly see far more
logic, sure possession of relevant facts, and supple
handling of English.

NOT happening before I die, I'll wager.

(P.S.: The Last Word is the MSNBC blog referred to here.)

Phil Gramm Not So Irrelevant--to the FED

2010-12-01T23:39:00.000-08:00

A few months back I characterized former senator Phil
Gramm as irrelevant after he used that term dismissively
about Glass-Steagall, the prescient 1930's two acts reining
in the banks. I hadn't known what he's currently up to, or I
would have castigated him for more recent atrocities
now affecting the entire U.S.

Sen. Gramm's opinions about "irrelevant regulations"
seemed unimportant--after all, he was (thank you, Texas!)
not reelected. But wait--where is he now?? He's a vice-
chairman of ZURICH'S UBS, the huge foreign bank which
has received a multi-billion bailout from THE FEDERAL
RESERVE. The Fed, now banker to the world??

According to VT Independent Senator Bernie Sanders,
quoted in a December 2nd, 2010 Bloomberg article,
that's a damned good question, which he and others
are assiduously pursuing. (--yahoo!)

All I can say is, where is a Phil Gramm look-alike
doll when I need one! (-To stick pins into, that is.)
Talk about "voodoo economics"! This last decade in the
U.S. economy seems like The Wild West, Caribbean Voodoo
Ceremonies, or treks to the Oracle at Delphi for
sage answers, etc., with all the exotic financial
instruments promoted by greedy idiots who'd taken leave
of their senses (lacking any reality-based sense, common,
uncommon, inspired or otherwise).

Meanwhile, certain pronouncements from U.S. think tanks
verge on the obviously fantastic, essentially claiming
the Fed must engage in loans to overseas banks. But
was such a practice in its original (or even current)
charter?

Is the United States still a sovereign nation?--With
geographical borders which have economic boundaries
as well?--Or just a gigantic corporation thoughtlessly
run by omnipotent oligarchs rolling roughshod over the
rest of us? (We need Teddy Roosevelt and cousin FDR
back AGAIN.)

Somebody call me when there's a concerted plan based on the
greatest good for the greatest number.

Until then, find me that damn Gramm doll!

WikiLeaks: More Proof that Idiots Run the Store

2010-11-30T06:56:00.000-08:00

Whine, whine, whine! Alarmed voices all across the diplomatic
map caution and complain that these leaks compromise
diplomacy, international relations, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
The revelations include many petty, other-than-germane remarks.
But what did we expect? That these stellar figures comport
themselves professionally, including dignified demeanor and
verbal restraint, focusing on solving difficult if not downright
intractable issues? (--Oh, of course NOT.)

But I did.

Sadly, idiots of various stripes are still running our little
store, with small profit to the rest of us. Outside the U.S.,
certain nations occasionally put up no confidence votes and
entire representative bodies have had to resign. Since we don't
possess such a mechanism here, how about this:

A COMPLETE 2012 NATIONWIDE VOTING BOYCOTT

"Complete" entails national, state and local elections.
Yes, it's only a fantasy. But that show of no confidence
surely would make many "Idiots" take notice.

Then maybe some of them would better mind the store.

Chertoff's Christmas Comes Early

2010-11-25T12:08:00.000-08:00

Recent polls claim most Americans have
no problem with the scanners now used
at some major U.S. airports. Since the
Chertoff Group promotes these machines,
our former Homeland Security boss must
be jumping for joy. That uninformed people
don't perceive danger is not proof against
future shock.

A Primer Regarding Human Exposure to Radiation:

(1) To this day there is no "expert"
agreed-upon safe human exposure radiation level.
(2) All radiation, whether high or low,
is cumulative. Why do radiation techs at
hospitals or doctors' offices leave the
room or wear protective gear when patients
are X-rayed? Why should you wear a lead lap
apron while getting dental X-rays? Why are pilots
publicly objecting to going through airport scanners?

There is only one answer here: too many accumulated rads
can kill you by causing cancer. If radiation
exposure wasn't cumulative, it would be safer,
because future cancer risk due to radiation would
be manageable.

Radiation medicine has saved many thousands of lives,
including mine. But radiation alters/kills healthy tissue
as well as tumors, so the blessing is definitely a
mixed one.

Going through the scanner avoids the official molestation
AKA the TSA Patdown, which is why "Opt Out" was a non-event
this Thanksgiving. But frequent fliers or those who require
repeated medical X-rays got more dangerous dosing than they
obviously realized.

Dear Mr. Chertoff, don't wear yourself out from jumping for
joy or laughing all the way to the bank. Profits from
the Rapiscan scanners will eventually dwindle, as people
learn that even a little radiation is a dangerous thing.

Meanwhile, it looks like your Christmas came early.

Mortgage Companies, DO Income Verification

2010-11-22T16:25:00.001-08:00

Apparently the banking and real estate industries
have NOT learned their lessons. The Great Recession
of 2007-2010, largely fueled by strange, unsecured
loans and other exotic "financial instruments" (which
yet were profitable all along the transaction highway)
is not quite over, despite good numbers in the markets.
If only the extremely well-to-do feel no pain, but the rest
(the majority) are suffering, claims of recovery are specious,
to put it politely.

Over a week ago I heard a quite alarming radio ad over
Chicagoland's CBS feed, promoting "the biggest no-brainer
in the history of Earth! Get FHA refinancing of your
house note, no income verification required!" (--No brainer,
indeed.) I contacted an executive at the station complaining
why this was an ad which under fair practices, truth in
advertising law, etc., should not have been accepted.
I was told no income verification loans ARE/WERE legal,
he'd had one in the past, etc.

Now it shouldn't have been necessary to remind this nice
gentleman that, just because HE didn't default, the
practice is therefore economically-speaking, more widely safe.
But I did. He agreed to check out my concern, and I hope
he has.

Hey, mortgage companies, do your damn job! DO INCOME
VERIFICATION.

It's the economy (AGAIN), stupid.

"Opt Out" for Good: Take the Train

2010-11-18T10:25:00.000-08:00

I'm way ahead of you one-occasion boycotters--
I stopped flying in 1988,when my Continental flight
suddenly dropped 5-10 thousand feet during a nation-
wide winter storm. Landing at Denver Stapleton,
I found an airline PR person and directed him to a
window. We looked out at my plane which was to
continue on to Chicago, my destination. I asked for
the ice to be removed from the wings. When he refused
I demanded overnight accommodations and a Greyhound
ticket to Chicago, which I got. The plane did make
it safely back to Chi, but several flight attendants
had also left that plane, I later read.

Before and since I've travelled by train; but only
by train, car or bus since 1988 for national travel.
During that 20 plus hour ride one can read, sleep, get
plans organized, thought out and written down, etc. Oh,
and seriously stretch your legs too. You can cut down on
hotel expenses by building sleeping on the train into
your schedule.

Frequent fliers/business travelers? Videoconferencing
has been on the rise, and could sharply escalate now
that many across the U.S. are personally, uncomfortably
aware of just how intrusive the TSA security practices
have become. Remember the shoe stores and their
radiation machines? You stepped up on them and saw
your foot bones. That's unnecessary harmful radiation,
(as all radiation exposure, high or low, is cumulative)
which explains why those things are gone. The new scanners
now in use at our major airports have a direct
financial connection to Chertoff, our Homeland Security
Department former boss. He and his private security firm
partners sell these very machines....CONFLICT
OF INTEREST, anyone? Chertoff was promoting these
scanners WHILE Bush's Cabinet officer.

Don't mind strangers sliding their hands up your inner
thighs, over your buttocks, and even between your
legs as part of a public inspection? Then you're among the
80% of Americans so in love with their money and middle-class
conveniences that they would permit such a violation of privacy
and dignity--the whole spectacle is pathetically nasty, really,
for anyone with an ounce of self-respect and/or modesty.
THIS IS OFFICIAL MOLESTATION, there is no other better term
to use here. If there ARE no other accurate methods to avoid
terrorism, we are NOW a third world country, all the flag-waving
and bragging to the contrary.

The day these intrusions make their way to buses and trains is
when I look for another nation to call my own....

That really WOULD be opting out for good.

Errorville USA: Post November 2nd, 2010

2010-11-03T09:43:00.000-07:00

Errors everywhere! I wouldn't even care that much,
except the innocent will be victimized by such arrant
stupidity. Now that the dust is settling somewhat after
our recent national elections, let's examine the most
egregious errors one by one:

(1) "Smaller government is better government,
saves us all money." --No, there are actions
only a larger government can take, such as providing
a humane safety net, massive research projects, defense,
and emergency large-scale bailouts (when the banks and
Wall Street are too greedy/stupid to refrain from practices
which threaten the whole Earth's economy).

There's something called a county hospital, which
takes in poor as well as paying patients. Some fiscal
conservative who suddenly finds himself short of money
to pay for private care better hope he lives close
enough to a county hospital which accepts non-paying
patients or his health's on the line....p.s., these
are government-financed county hospitals! Ditto the
libraries, fire and police departments. (--Oh, and the
public schools, but of course, nobody needs those, MOST
Americans can afford excellent private
education for their offspring.)

(2) "No more stimulus or extended unemployment money!
We don't want to leave massive debt to our children."
Once more, with feeling: if the unemployed have no
income, they won't spend, and although a totally
consumer driven economy isn't the best possible
economy, it's the one the U.S. has had for FIFTY
plus YEARS, so deal with it, extend unemployment
benefits. As to the stimulus: whatever one's political
philosophy, OUR INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS REPAIRING! HAS
REQUIRED major reconstruction to our bridges, roads, rails,
etc., for well over TWENTY YEARS. Remember the deaths
in Minneapolis when that highway bridge collapsed? More
such tragedies await due to inaction. --So stimulate that!
--Hire people to fix a literally broken America, which
actually resembles the Third World more and more each
month.

Memo to deficit hawks: the deficit goes up and down, over
time. A mere ten years ago the U.S. had a surplus with no
tax cut for the wealthy, but then we got Bush II and his
expensive, immorally/ineptly handled wars....and a huge
tax cut for the rich, about the time NYC needed funds
to clean up after 911. Our grandchildren aren't automatically
doomed to drown in debt; the nation's fortunes have changed
within a five-year time frame more than once in our history.

(3) Mass media morons make matters even worse, enlighten
no one, exaggerate everything, do little original sourcing,
repeat colleagues' mistakes, ad nauseum, ad infinitum.
When "journalists" query the President at White House press
conferences, they repeat each others' questions which Mr.Obama
has just answered, while NOT getting to the heart of several
important issues. Instead, in this last press conference, the
President was largely baited about democratic party losses and
his own re-election prospects. (Say, does this mean we never
got rid of yellow journalism?--Could be that term has more than
one meaning.) Edward R. Murrow and David Halberstam are
surely spinning in their graves.

Yep, look for it on a world map: Errorville, otherwise known as
the USA.

Halloween Hijinks vs. Wailing the Bailout Blues

2010-10-29T06:09:00.000-07:00

Well, it's time to do the math again. The great hue and cry,
hankie-wringing hullabaloo about "the bailouts are ruining
the U.S. economy, drastically deepening the debt" isn't
justified by the numbers. Out of the 787 or so billions
loaned out to various organizations, the government
expects to have most of that returned to the taxpayers
save a relatively paltry 51 billion, according to the
Associated Press: yes, this is no typo, 51 billion out
of 787 billion, out of an economy which boasts an annual
GDP of about FOURTEEN TRILLION. (AGAIN, NOT a typo.)

Dealing debt disaster out to the hustings to batter
politicians and philosophies one doesn't like is not only
scary, it's very dangerous as well. Oh, and a far more
deliberate lie than anything else going right now:

So, woe is highly appropriate this Halloween season;
sure, scare everyone witless about the economy, apparently
high unemployment numbers aren't bad enough. Irresponsible?
So what?? Anything goes in love and war--love my own ideas,
hate anyone on the opposite side of the political divide; and,
by golly, it's war, complete with victims,victors and spoils.

Enjoy Halloween but don't fall for the bailout wailers
who either can't or won't do the math. The national debt
is indeed problematic, but one that comes and goes. Now
and again there are even surpluses.

....Alas, no surplus of common sense in America, that
scarcity scares me, whatever the holiday.

Politics 2010, New Word Magic: Maybe

2010-10-26T18:38:00.001-07:00

Maybe: there's a watchword for the intelligent
present and foreseeable future. Not automatically
negative nihilism, not pie-in-the-sky optimism/denial,
but guarded hope, realistic outlooks/ efforts. That's
what I'm saying to younger people I've been running into
this political season, many who are dejected, feel rejected,
wonder who really cares about them. I'm asking them to dig
deeper, find intelligent, caring candidates to believe in,
then support those. Granted, the effort required is somewhat
on the massive side, but ultimately worth it to all of us.

Maybe. Maybe the future IS worth investing in, maybe we have
to fight on for the younger ones, the animals (-even the plants!).

There's magic in Maybe, a watchword candidate I can
get behind.

Maybe some sweet surprises await us.

The Real Jackasses: Partying State Legislators

2010-10-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

How about that 2010 nationwide state
legislators convention in Kentucky?
Largely a party thrown by big-buck corporations
to woo votes, ABC filmed aging legislators
attempting to recapitulate their youth,
(oh, and by the way, FAILING) far more
nauseating than the Jackass movie stunts
could ever be. At least JK, JT and crew
were clearly good-natured, only potentially
harming themselves. Most tellingly, you
had to PAY and GO to a theater to be
shocked/entertained, whereas with these
true jackasses in our nations' legislatures,
everyone is held hostage to these bozos
not tending to their state's horrendous
budget, unemployment, education and crime
problems.

Instead of the pathetic partying, did these
folks caucus to share positive solutions
for seemingly intractable problems? I had visions
of them doing so before seeing the ABC video.
Why oh why are adult Americans so DAMN IMMATURE?
Why do too many hate work?

How about replacing those incumbents when
state-level elections roll around? Now THAT'S
sending a message, most particularly about
"honest services".

Throw the rascals out: The real jackasses,
our partying state legislators.

Digitally Dumbed Down While Ascending the Tower of Babel

2010-10-11T05:07:00.000-07:00

Focus! Multitasking excellence is a myth. Six million years
of primate evolution must militate against the Distracted
Digital Age; our human brains were hardwired to concentrate
on intricate problems, with a loss of peak performance when
distracted. No one can simultaneously and accurately
perform four or more tasks; switching back and forth between
them is little better.

But our egos tell us otherwise (we multitaskers are au courant,
the best and the brightest--just see how busy and connected
we are!)Yes, yet: accuracy is significantly less, and analytical,
logical processes are fragmented, reduced. Check out the
multitasking experiments at MIT and Stanford as described on a
recent PBS Frontline, "Digital Nation"; you may be as chagrined
as the carefully chosen students tested were, suddenly faced with
evidence of their less than-accomplished brilliance.

Certain university educators have been forced into a kind of
reductio ad absurdia, wherein they no longer assign books
over 200 pages to their students, some of whom in turn publicly
admit they no longer read books at all, but instead utilize
digital analogs of Cliff's Notes. Some professors have concerns
about the reduced ability to maintain, sustain protracted focus,
leading others to pen tomes bemoaning the "dumbest generation".

So what are we left with? -Too many younger people who don't
know that Dayton is in Ohio, can't locate large European
countries on a map, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. -Grammar rules
and spelling tossed by the wayside, which in turn dulls and
distorts any intent to accurately communicate.

Then there is our immaturity, initially prolonged because the
United States considered itself the sole winner of WWII (as we
sustained fewer losses and no invasions to speak of). The Xbox
crew vanishes for long periods into a vicarious "reality"
where they have "adventures" and "skills" "far beyond those of
mortal men", becoming Superman (-Super Avatar?) for the
moment. Whatever happened to actually BECOMING someone,
something, special? Answer: that takes far more effort,
sustained focus (reread: hard work, appreciation of delayed
gratification.) Overly highly prioritizing fun and relaxation
is more properly the domain of children, not adults, who
supposedly mature to enjoyments of a deeper
sort, while still retaining a sense of fun.

All this is absolutely nothing new, current media warnings
to the contrary. The rush to the bottom, lowest common
denominator culture has been building my whole 65 years.
"New", "easy", etc. blared out from ads from NYC's Madison
Avenue not long after WWII ended, smoothly segueing/sliding us
into the consumer culture, the Me Decade, the Me Generation and
--voila! The Wow! Now! Generation. All technology turnover has
done merely exacerbated these national societal trends.

Every new generation generates fears that the world will now
be carted off to Hell in a handbasket, which thankfully hasn't
happened. But with the advent of the Atomic Bomb and
"automation" (antiquated term, that) the world HAS forever
changed, and many of us are afraid we have engaged in a
Faustian bargain with our darker selves, with unmanageable results.

So, what's next? --Another new gadget that entertains us and
detains us from looking deep inside, the real final frontier.
I'm not wishing for a return to the cave, merely hoping
for just enough simplicity married to introspection which will
enrich all our lives and relationships, solve pressing global
issues.

In the meantime, however, we're being digitally dumbed down
while ascending the Tower of Babel. Alexis de Tocqueville and
George Santayana are still spinning in their graves.

It's the Labor Market, Stupid

2010-09-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

Remember the '90's? Back then a snappy saying gained currency:
"It's the Economy, Stupid". Most people think it still
is, for reasons as varied as the nation's landscape.
But one realization should stand out head and shoulders above
all other and contrary opinions: without businesses' ability to
obtain credit, meaningful increases in hiring won't occur,
the retail sector will experience a grim, Grinch-like holiday
season, and a second recession will follow quickly on the
heels of the Great Recession of 2008-2009. Such a scenario
is scarcely rare, regrettably. Check out the 20th century's
recessions and you will find several instances of decades
in which two contractions occurred.

Meanwhile, Mr. Obama, attempting to inspire job creation
and infrastructure repair, has been scurrilously attacked
and parodied in seemingly borderline illegal ways. Yet
Obama's unemployment extensions have yielded positive
results, according to Mark Price of the Keystone Research
Center, a purportedly independent think tank. Price claims
there would have been millions more at or below the poverty
line without the extensions, which surely contributed to
American buying power in recent months.

So let's do it! Hey there, banks and businesses sitting
on cash, release that death grip, start lending and hiring!
Christmas is coming; have some faith in the country you
profess to love and admire.

It's the patriotic thing to do.
Don't forget, it's the labor market, stupid.

The U.S.: Neither a Democracy Nor a Meritocracy

2010-09-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

September 16, 2010: now that we're in the thicket
of the political season, it's high time we clarify
certain terms, to wit, democracy and meritocracy.
I strongly suggest the USA as a whole is neither:

(1) A Democracy is NOT what Benjamin Franklin
called the new nation on September 17, 1787,
The date our Constitution was signed.
In answer to a woman's query, "What sort of
government have you given us, Mr. Franklin?",
he replied, "A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it."
Actually, it's a representative, democratic republic,
even with subsequent constitutional amendments
and other liberalizing federal statutes which
also followed. All of the candidates, incumbents
and pundits invoking the word democracy should
recall a little thing known as the Electoral College.
In the words of the Pledge of Allegiance:"...and to
the REPUBLIC for which it stands,..."

(2) A Meritocracy can't possibly be what we've got
here, EITHER, with all the incompetence, mismanagement,
misstatement, lack of information, communication and
procedure ad infinitum. What about the well-known cliche'
"It's not what you know, but who"? There's real-world
reason nepotism and cronyism are included in American
English dictionaries. We DO indeed have very able and
knowledgeable people in government, industry and education
--but are they the major percentage? That seems more and
more untrue with each succeeding newscast and political ad.

One fine day in the far-off future our nation may
be able to accurately claim its status as a
democratic meritocracy; I fervently hope so.
Better still if all the other 199 countries
are justly described that way as well.

PG&E, Dangerously Incompetent, is at it again

2010-09-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

Not content with building a nuclear reactor near
the Hosgri Earthquake Fault in Diablo Canyon, PG&E
(Pacific Gas and Electric) also succeeded in constructing
a many miles-long natural gas transmission line with
many subsequent problem incidents/issues reported.
This latest gas explosion in California has destroyed
many homes and lives; much of the blame may safely be
laid at PG&E's doorstep. Pointed questions abound:

(1) Where does PG&E get their consulting or in-house
geologists from? What are their credentials, their
acuity, their experience? I challenge their expertise
absolutely, because that is the initial weak link in
the decision/command chain that keeps leading to
serious problems caused by this utility.

(2) Where are the regulators with the requisite
legal and character teeth to stop these dangerous
projects which end up costing way too much in
lives ruined, property and money wasted?

Many thousands must voice their intelligent
outrage with a burning, even fiery critique,
(stylistically, NOT literally, meant!)

Or PG& E will skate off to do it yet again.

Extremism is only rarely a virtue

2010-09-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

Yes, just a few people can bring many troubles.
There is a U.S. "church" calling itself Dove
(a highly paradoxical appellation, it turns out)
which intends to publicly burn a copy of the Koran.
The fearless leader of this tiny sect (estimated
membership, 50) proclaims he and his are tired
of being intimidated by kings and others, wants to
bring back the U.S. to its rightful place in the
Sun.

So he thinks our great and glorious nation can
regain its premier position by intentionally
antagonizing irrational, violent extremists abroad?
There is a photo of him and his all white truck
emblazoned with bright red lettering,
"International Burn a Koran Day", 9/11/2010, 6-9 pm".
Mr. "Church of the Dove" Jones is well-advised
to look into a very polished mirror, long and
hard. Maybe then he will counsel his flock to cancel
the ill-advised little conflagration he's planned,
and while he's at it, rename his church too.
Since he and his are NOT peaceful as is the Dove
of the Holy Spirit, how about " U.S. Chapter of
Worldwide Extremists"?

If only this irrational person and his devotees
would consult various history books with a
thoughtful studiousness, they might realize
what has proven true:

Extremism is only rarely a virtue.

A GOOD TIME IN THE GOOD NEWS GARDEN

2010-08-28T00:49:00.000-07:00

Friday, August 27th gave Maywood, Illinois a
perfect weather day to showcase the fresh
produce planted by Green Corps, young people
who may have previously never dealt with gardens
of either the vegetable or flower variety.
The Prairie Path "Open House" (outdoors only)
was a tripartite effort by Loyola University
Medicine, Cook County Green Corp and University
of Illinois' Extension....you should have
seen the pride and joy on those young faces!

The garden of course was bursting with tall
leaves of Kale and other vegetables, baby
watermelons hidden between them on the ground,
etc. Today, Saturday, the mature crops
go to the local Farmers' Market for sale.
Meanwhile, the young planters have already
sampled some of their wares. What could be
better?

Projects like this have sprung up all around
the U.S., with many teens gaining insight
into more than mere appreciation of where
food actually comes from. The value and rewards
of teamwork, sensitivity and sustained effort
are pearls beyond price, food for the soul.

In this Good News Garden
a good time was had by all.

Reason, Fairness and Compassion: Off the Table

2010-08-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

Why don't most of the politicians and
Wall Streeters read and heed Paul Krugman
and Simon Johnson? There's really only
one ugly reason: The super-rich and
well-fixed political figures really
don't care about middle and lower class
Americans, the majority. As Paul Krugman,
Simon Johnson and James Kwak so ably point
out, the rich and political, hereinafter
referred to as "they","them" or "their",
keep changing their reasons to deny
further assisting the unemployed. I've
seen cries of "socialism", "deficit-driven
depression/bankruptcy", "bond investor
withdrawal risk", etc. ....Whew! Say,
call me when you make up your minds--
AND make some sense.

Some of them have forgotten, if they ever
apprehended it, 6,000 years of recorded
history, oh, and a pithy little saying:
"...You can't fool all of the people all
of the time". The scales of Justice
sometimes swing back to weigh in favor of
the oppressed. Yet I see that many of
"them" must act and live by the old saw,
"take the money and run". But by forgetting
the lessons of history and economics, in the
long run, EVERYONE pays for stupid,
narrow-interest policies, even the very
proponents of same.

TO THE POWERS THAT BE: FIX UNEMPLOYMENT

(1) Exhort those sitting on cash to hire!
Productivity numbers have lied for decades;
I'm here to attest to the sharp decline in
accuracy AND quality; you can't really do
"more with less", you just do LESS.

(2) If there is stimulus money unspent, allocate
it to employ people to fix our infrastructure.
Realize nothing lasts forever, not even the proton.
(Reading more science over a lifetime versus
partaking in many pointless social
opportunities would be a big help here.)
If the stimulus fund HAS truly been spent,
vote more money to do this vital work which
has been stupidly, niggardly, overlooked.

TO THE LARGER ELECTORATE:
Remember in November.
(Please, remember in November.)

Unless a miracle of sane policy or
voter awareness/alacrity occurs, reason,
fairness and compassion are off the table.

Clean Air or Clean House: The Senate

2010-08-09T23:34:00.000-07:00

The Union of Concerned Scientists is quite disturbed by the
current Senate inaction on climate change legislation, and so
am I. The following is a letter I sent to Illinois Senators
Durbin and Burris through the Union of Concerned Scientists'
take action website, which encourages editing the sample
letter they thoughtfully provide:

Some Senators are attempting to delay or block the EPA's
authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate global
warming emissions. These sorts of attacks are unacceptable:
the very politicians who want things to remain as they are
haven't read enough science to understand that the impending
climate change danger affects everyone on Earth--INCLUDING
their OWN families.

This denial insanity has progressed so far that even
physicist Stephen Hawking has been quoted as making
outrageous statements like "We must leave Earth or
face extinction." --What?? Say, let's fix things
right here, right now, while there may yet
be time. Moving to another planet to continue the sad
historical human pattern of overpopulating, polluting and
violence isn't even in the realm of possibility for several
hundred years, so let's get down to business now, shall we?

The question becomes, "Is the Clean Air Act the law, or not?"
If it IS the law, Congress must find a way to enforce it,
period. Otherwise it might be time to politically clean
house, if not the air, in subsequent elections.

Crazy Like a "Fox": Insanity Creep Grips the Nation

2010-07-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

In their "coverage" of Shirley Sherrod, Fox News has
revealed (yet again) several symptoms of organizational
insanity, formerly referred to as "the Big Lie", a tactic
used by the unconscionable over the centuries, but more
recently, spectacularly and hideously, by the Nazis and
racist U.S. southern state politicians of notorious
yore/lore. To wit, (if scarcely witty):

(1)--Say anything! Don't bother with further research, post
a video purportedly making your point without even really
reviewing it, etc. That's what worthy news outlets believe
in doing, yessir. Then, with egg on your face after the world
discovers your egregious error, self-righteously backpedal
and blame the hated Obama White House for not properly vetting
what Ms. Sherrod said at an NAACP meeting.--Whew!
Lie and deny, me oh MY.

(2) Yet insanity creep is gripping much of the U.S.,
because this news outlet is crazy like a fox, knowing
that many Americans are intellectually lazy, won't
dedicate the time to ascertain accuracy in invidious
accusations like this. Sadly and inexcusably,
an administration official was just as negligent as
Fox News. But UNLIKE Fox, the White House jumped to an
apology with alacrity after discovering their mistake,
offering to rehire Ms. Sherrod, who appears to be mulling
such an idea over carefully....very carefully.

Alexis De Toqueville, touring a young America in 1831,
observed the nation's flaws even then, and we haven't,
regrettably, reformed them since. A hunger for novelty,
not delving deeply into important issues or knowledge,
makes Americans hostage to liars of every stripe and
agenda. (Bernie Madoff, anyone? He "made off" with the
money, fulfilling the negative imperatives of his name.)

What M. Alexis saw is at bottom of the worst excesses
and errors of the entire business world as well. Those
laid off during deep recessions are not usually rehired
by their old employers, and at least since 1982, I've
noticed the wholesale elimination of job titles.
Foisting more tasks on those still working has
become common practice.

Are any of you patriotic, truly? If so, don't fall
for the crazy like a "Fox" in our culture. Demand
more from yourselves and all others. After all,
people who love their country can't possibly
enjoy jokes or criticism about their nation's
very public rash stupidities.

At least I don't. Who likes derogatory comments
about their mother? One's country is at once
mother and home....

We forget that at our peril.

The Good Fight Wages on , Everywhere

2010-07-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

Just when the constant barrage of negative network news
threatens to overwhelm many of us, with its horrifyingly
repetitive, seeming inevitability, we can be reminded that
everywhere, the good fight wages on.

Here are just a few of the many ways to be inspired:

(1) We can go outside, stay awhile! (But observe all
safety/health measures.) Let's try to do without our
sexy tech cells, etc. for a few daylight hours a week.
(2) Follow PBS (Public Broadcasting) programming, even
their substations, and you will see that everywhere, even
in the poorest sections of the globe, good and positive
efforts are succeeding. Particularly view newscasts from
all around the world, for a better world perspective, and
I don't mean Google Earth, pretty as that is.
(3) Volunteer! Every community has need of whatever
gifts we may possess, so why not share them; the feeling
one gets is like nothing else, even love, but then,
it IS a form of love, no?

Recently I took my own advice (1) and went canoeing for
the first time, thanks to my very kind and smart nephew.
Being on the water in a local lagoon for two hours was
balm indeed for an over-harried mind. Calm waters
can smooth turbulent emotions....even merely recalling
the experience is calming and pleasant.

Following item (2) I found a little something called
mindtv.org, which allows everyone to put a program
on tv. It's similar to CAN TV in many respects, but
unlike CAN, only a free broadcast tv with PBS is required
to receive it. Like CAN TV, mindtv.org is accessed by web
and cable as well.

So, yes, this blog focuses on the many errors everywhere,
but now and again good news is great, important too.

Let's join the good fight, wherever we find it.

Fast Flight from Common Sense on Facebook

2010-07-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

Yessir, Facebook is surely a study in contradictions and
extremes. One thread covers memorializing a departed gifted
friend, important issues of the day, as well as the usual minor
ordinary occurrence. Then there's the thread, 60,000 fans strong,
which is cheering on the 19 year old fugitive thief/burglar who
reportedly stole planes, boats, cars and $1,500.

The "Barefoot Bandit, Colton Harris-Moore, escaped from
a halfway house two years ago after a troubled childhood. His
mother has a different last name, hasn't had custody since
he was 17, hasn't seen him for two and a half years. She says
the charges against her son are "exaggerated".

But it's no exaggeration to say that there's something wrong
with a culture which can produce 60,000 "fans" of a disturbed
young thief who was eventually apprehended carrying a handgun.
A fund created for Harris-Moore has already received donations.

One of his victims said it best: "Just knowing he has a huge
network of supporters makes me really worry about the state
of this country." Indeed.

Hey, if anyone has a charitable itch they are yearning
to scratch, donating to needy children and animals would seem
a better way to spend money and supportive sentiments.

But that would involve genuine caring, not circus-like entertainments.

Tarring and Feathering, Oil Spill Peril and Pain

2010-05-31T08:03:00.000-07:00

The horror and anguish about the current Gulf Oil Spill is accelerating, in sad and ultimately
unreasonable, although understandable, reactions. One tearful local resident actually complained/implored he'd done nothing to deserve this....Indeed, he and all the other
life forms native to the 60,000 square mile area now contaminated have done nothing to
merit such a tragedy. There ARE, nevertheless, many blameworthy others, including:

(1) The new drill rig technology designers who promoted
the previously untried one mile deep project; why wasn't a less
deep design tried first? --Simply "scaling up"
is not rigorous science.
Having a superb command of Physics (i.e., in this case, the physics
of the ever-increasing pressures encountered in ever-increasing
depths) might have prevented/mitigated
the disaster before it began;

(2) Those oil rig workers (like many front-line employees)who knew more than the higher-ups, but only displayed concern
for the hierarchy and their jobs when they didn't abort
the project as the problem clearly presented itself;

(3) The bosses who looked at a so-called "bottom line"
and denied permission to shut down operations, who said
to substitute salt water as a cost-cutting measure;

(4) All the public relations people who attempted the
proper "spin" and figuratively turned many of us into
whirling dervishes instead with their lies;

(5) The politicians OUTSIDE Louisiana who are still championing
this energy technology, including, at times, Mr. Obama.
The tiny tarballs he fingered during his recent photo op were
much smaller than elsewhere, especially since that beach
was cleaned up before he arrived;

Then there's British Petroleum (or is it Beyond Petroleum?)
What can we say about the BP CEO who actually uttered the
sentiment about wanting his OWN life to return to normal?

Too bad tarring and feathering are illegal. The above-numbered
humans deserve such, not the animal and plant life in the Gulf.

The New York Times, Ben Bernanke:Two for One

2010-05-17T05:03:00.000-07:00

While reading The New York Times Online ( May 14th),
I became shocked that two respected institutions could get
"it" so wrong, the causative factors leading up to the
Great Recession of 2008-2009.
To wit, heavily edited and paraphrased :

(1) NYT Interviewer: Some people ask, could you
(Ben Bernanke and the Fed)
have averted this serious recession? Mr. Bernanke did NOT
state the correct answer, which should have been "No".
Absent the controls in place for some 65 years, chiefly the
two banking acts known as Glass-Steagall, NO ONE could have
stemmed the gushing tide of red ink on balance sheets, Main and
Wall Street's, as the big banks simply ran amok,
acting out that willful child's arrogant claim,
"I can do ANYTHING I want!".
Add to that the rush to sub-prime mortgages by
those something for nothing artists,
the note sellers/holders as well as the "buyers"
who really should have known they could not afford
a house, even after being goaded/inspired
by countless ads proclaiming "You deserve it"
(this "it" being whatever someone wants)....

(2) Mr. Bernanke added to his obfuscations/misinforming statements by repeating that tired
old Wall Street saw: ......the regulations during FDR's time were primarily designed for commercial banks, not the fast-moving, innovative financial instruments in our modern interconnected markets......-Whoa! -Wait! The language of Glass-Steagall
was precisely crafted to avoid all the commingling, hiding, laissez faire fox-guarding-the-henhouse problems extant ONLY after the G-S Acts of the '30's were allowed to lapse during the Clinton/Gramm/Leach/Bliley era. Few, if any, changes in the language of Glass-Steagall are necessary; Mr. Bernanke well knows those acts covered all the zany, irresponsible, greedy behaviors of many big banks, then and now.

Renaming a thing, process, etc. is the favorite tactic of those impatient for fame/fortune/power without possessing truly new, good ideas; this happens in Medicine, Science, and even more frequently, Finance. Changing the terms of rash business practices in 1998 and after doesn't change the reality that the same phenomenon constantly reoccurs, over decades and even centuries. Read Lord Keynes' General Theory, then watch Niall Ferguson on PBS, "The Ascent of Money"--show me the profound "differences due to new instruments in this new century", please, I may be missing something important.

On May 14th, The NYT and B. Bernanke both erred,
a two for one scenario. It's vital to read, think,
tell the truth then act. Hopes for a less chaotically
painful world ride on such an approach....

It always has.

Kerry's Errors of Understanding: The American Power Act, 2010

2010-05-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

I'm following The American Power Act, Kerry-Lieberman, May 2010. My concerned
reactions to the proposals in TITLE I, Subtitle A follow:

(1) I understand how fervently most of us Americans want to cut ourselves loose
from MiddleEast Energy Dependence, as the political realities of that area are uncertain,
to employ kind euphemisms;
(2) But Nuclear Power is NOT clean, safe, financially sound, or even strictly "local"
(confined to our U.S. borders);
(3) The entire issue is one of Physics, Geology, Geography, Reactor Technology, Storage Cask
Technology/Reliability, Proprietary Business Interests, Power and Politics....fiendishly
difficult to understand even by the finest minds without years of intensive study.
(4) I often feel that few in the U.S. Senate (or House) at any time have deeply studied
the exigencies inherent in pusuing this technology; former President Carter, having been
a Navy Nuclear Engineer, is the only top official I can recall with such expertise.

Please do not support TITLE I Subtitle A of The American Power Act when it comes
to the floor; the old arguments from the '60's and '70's still have factual relevancy, sadly.
Radwaste is still toxic after 250,000 years, and reprocessing does NOT mitigate the danger.

Concerned Americans should call, fax, wire, email or snail mail their national house and senate reps.

The consequences of inaction or apathy are long lasting and great.

Trampling on Your First Amendment Rights Again: Will We Have to Change our National Anthem?

2010-04-24T22:43:00.000-07:00

Thank God for PBS, I often say. On Sunday, April 25th, 2010, a PBS expose', "Food, Inc. " unpleasantly reminded me yet again of the constant battering The Constitution of The United States continues to take. This time a key issue was Agricultural Product Disparagement Laws, enacted by some 13 states, which forbid public criticism of food products. In some cases,
(remember the TV star sued by the beef cattlemen?) even if the criticism comes from outside
of those 13 states, agribusinesses from any
of these 13 feel free to sue. These are attempts (nothing new) of ignorant states' righters to ignore/weaken the federal constitution, exert control favoring their interests nationwide. (If you missed this important program you can find it on pbs.org.)

The agribusiness industry, taken as a whole, currently acts like the trusts and monopolies of yesteryear.
Some of the biggest players have:
(1) Stifled books about to be published warning of unsafe foods, cruel treatment of farm animals, and filthy food factory practices;
(2) Cowed whistleblowers into not even publicly stating what foods they themselves do and do not consume;
(3) Sued small farmers not agreeing to buy and plant the agribusiness' patented seeds on specious grounds that the farmers' own private seeds have been "stolen from the corporation".

Since most of us are aware of recurring food recalls and
warnings to dispose of edible products, the risk of illness and even, though (thankfully) more rarely, death, is certainly real....but hey! the profits and pride of U.S. agribusiness uber alles.

What is more basic than the need to eat uncontaminated food or speaking out to warn others of the danger? These rights (which most of us take for granted) are being seriously compromised by, as usual, big money. The USDA itself is limited in what it can legally do, although there has been movement to increase its power significantly.

Every adult should contact their state and federal representatives to strenuously object to these
and other outrageous practices by agribusinesses. If nobody does, we will eventually have to change our national anthem.

After all, we will no longer be the home of the brave in the land of the free.

Let's Bring Back that Eye for an Eye Guy

2010-04-20T14:43:00.000-07:00

In hallowing the First Amendment right to free speech, the Supreme Court has just struck down
the law forbidding the propagating and selling of cruel animal videos showing the torture and crushing to death of helpless small animals. All 50 states still have anti-cruelty laws on their books,
but purveyors of this distressing filth will continue circumventing them with impunity, all for mammon and sick thrills. How this over-broad interpretation of free speech rights can include such a privilege, which, by the way, seriously conflicts with all 50 states' anti-cruelty legislation, utterly escapes me. However, I'm not without suggestions:

(1) All 50 states could institute a special class-action suit against this practice,taking it to the Supreme Court.
(2) Bring back the Code of Hammurabi. You remember him, the "eye for an eye" guy, don't you? Applying such severe sentences to these monstrous cowards would please many of us, I feel sure. Yes, it's quite a sardonic, even untenably, illegal notion, yet it has the charm of implacable symmetry.... and I suspect it could be quite effective.

Since the Constitution and our culture would forbid instituting (2), I'll pin my hopes on (1).
But don't think my dark wishes for these inhumane, unfeeling monsters will go away.

Simon Johnson: When He Talks, Politicians Better Listen

2010-04-13T17:43:00.000-07:00

Simon Johnson's new book, 13 Bankers, has just come out, an instructive primer on the serious flaws in the U.S. banking system. Johnson and coauthor James Kwak explain how "too big to fail" is a dangerously erroneous concept, because:
(1) The market does NOT efficiently, effectively, regulate itself, witness the Great Depression
of the 1930s and the Great Recession of 2008-2009. Both economic disasters occurred during
largely deregulated eras.
(2) Since it's U.S. taxpayers bailing out the banks when their high-risk practices bring them to
bankruptcy's brink, the market is NOT providing any solutions; indeed, this policy amounts to taxation without representation. (Did anybody actually agree to this, other than the bankers and politicians?)

Simon Johnson has more credentials AND savvy than anyone else around the Beltway when
it comes to economics. He was the IMF's Chief Economist, is an economist at MIT's Sloan School of Management, an author and lecturer.

13 Bankers should be required reading for Congress, the White House, and all and sundry in
Washington, D.C. As Mr. Johnson has said during frequent TV appearances, the lessons of history, ignored, inevitably return to haunt and harm. I'll reiterate it:

George Santayana must be spinning in his grave.

Blame Both Russia and U.S. for Adoption Failure

2010-04-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

There are more questions than answers regarding the recent adoption failure which had the young Russian boy returned to Russia unaccompanied. But one thing is clear: blame goes to both countries. It's time very pointed questions are put to all the responsible parties involved:

(1) Why didn't the single American mother adopt an American child? Didn't she qualify under
U.S. adoption rules?

(2) Why didn't she take the boy to a mental health professional? Her occupation as a regular RN
does NOT equip her to function as a psychiatric professional.

(3) Did the Russian adoption agency withhold vital information from the would-be mom?
Are they lying now, expressing "outrage" at such a charge?

(4) To the three Russian families eager to adopt "Justin"--where WERE you when he was languishing in an institution? And by the way, why ARE there so many Russian children in
orphanages needing parents?

(5) What were the airlines thinking, transporting the boy on connecting flights, one ten hours
long, with no supervising adult? Were they really following the law as they claim?

More troubling questions surely exist, but I have to agree with the Russian authorities who
want to end these transatlantic adoptions. There are reasons, not particularly positive ones,
why many Americans seek overseas adoptions.

Just one thing, though: Russia could do a better job with their own in-country adoptions.

Laws, Not Regulatory Agencies, Create a Stable Economy

2010-04-06T09:22:00.000-07:00

The Dodd bill does not have sufficient strength to effectively rein in the greedy overweening
tendencies of the big banks. Most of the current suggestions and proposals only modestly curtail the negative propensities which brought us to the Great Recession of 2008-2009. The bill leaves
reform up to regulatory agency control, a weak and largely ineffective solution. Where were the SEC and the FTC when some of the more recent outrages occurred?

But I have a simple solution: Bring back Glass Steagall! From the inception of the two acts during
FDR's administration until the Clinton era, when Glass Steagall was allowed to lapse, we enjoyed
decades of relatively stable economic growth. The recessions occurring then were milder and
were not world-wide in import. Banks were not permitted to house investment, loan and commercial activities under one proprietary roof, BY LAW.

No agency or committee will be able to control Wall Street and the largest banks: the only
practical enforcement possible is BY LAW....no meandering discussions, no delaying tactics, no blind eyes applied, just acts which become law.

Glass Steagall was well thought out, extremely effective. Despite hedge funds, derivatives, and
all the other modern financial bells and whistles ("instruments"), the world hasn't changed very much. Greed and hubris remain a permanent part of the human condition, requiring a firm hand.

Glass Steagall is the right firm hand. History has proved it; why don't we ever learn?

George Santayana must be spinning in his grave.

Census Bureau Alert: Your Grasp of Grammar is Poor

2010-03-15T16:08:00.000-07:00

I've just finished answering my Census 2010 Questionnaire, and my nose is still out of joint.
Did anyone get a load of the impossible grammar used in the first two questions?
(1) How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment........on April 1, 2010?
(2) Were there any additional people staying here April 1, 2010......?

--Augh!! It's now March 16th; most of us have already received our forms, or are shortly about to, so HOW can "were" be in the same sentence referring to "on April 1, 2010"? Can the person who devised the questionnaire's language actually be that ignorant of the subjunctive mode, which he/she should have used? "Were" means past tense as used here, period. The only way this language could be correct is if we all got the forms AFTER April 1st.

The rush to the bottom, intellectually speaking, proceeds ever apace.

Memo to Nascar: Encouraging Accidents Not Sporting

2010-03-09T13:20:00.000-08:00

After the last few NASCAR accidents at the track, some staged at nearly 200 mph, it's time to arrest a few people....since "accidents" is a misnomer. Several of these miraculously avoided death,
but not mayhem; one spectator now "sports" a serious jaw injury. The latest was a deliberate bump at over 190 mph, the "bumping" driver openly acknowledging his deliberate intent and utter lack of remorse. So he should be arrested, along with Brian France, NASCAR CEO, who is quoted as actively encouraging his drivers to "mix it up".

It is amazing to realize how many sociopaths achieve prominence in fields where a conscience is usually considered mandatory.....

....and scary.

Washington Reflections After Presidents' Day

2010-02-22T21:36:00.000-08:00

Another Presidents' Day has ended; to celebrate, I reread Flexner's excellent biography of George Washington. I came away, as I had earlier, with profound gratitude that Washington had been the father of our country, that no other could have so served. It grates on my sensibilities that Jefferson is usually more widely extolled, his intellect, his tastes, his "hatred" of slavery, etc., etc. But delve more deeply and you will find that Washington, despite few years of formal education, had a far-ranging and practical mentality, a continuing eye and attention to the rectitude of his character, and little inclination to stoop to the petty political posturings and calumnies which Jefferson routinely employed, even against Washington who had trusted and promoted him. Jefferson did NOT free his slaves, but Washington did, some before his death, the rest in his will.

An always amazing aspect of Washington's character was his constant consciousness of how his every act as President would create precedent; he continually strove to do what he considered in the nation's future interest. History has validated his judgments and actions for the most part.

Many, when polled, no longer list Washington as one of the best Presidents of the United States.
That is a great oversight: he was the best.

2012: A Democratic Primary Presidential Challenge, Anyone?

2010-02-19T09:11:00.000-08:00

Mr. Obama has had a surprising and disappointing year. On the positive side, along with his advisers, he DID stave off a potential depression . He has also improved our image abroad. He should have kept his focus on the economy, and only when a recovery was obvious to one and all, then taken on the thorny issue of health care reform. But his priorities and positions have, regrettably, become skewed. He has turned his back on many of the campaign positions and promises which got him into the White House. So why would I vote for him again? Instead, I plan to be part of any movement to challenge his reelection plans. Specifically, any credible challenger
in the upcoming Democratic presidential primary will get my encouragement.

His "green" energy policies leave a great deal to be desired-what's with his new, pro-nuke stance? $54 billion to promote new nuclear power plants? Has he discovered a safe way to store toxic radwaste, a substance that remains deadly for 250,000 years? What about the very real danger of giving terrorists more "fuel" for their attacks? There were ample reasons for the 33 year U.S. moratorium on new nuke construction projects; how ironic that a liberal democrat has now authorized eight billion for new plants in Georgia.

Even George Bush didn't dare to enact such a foolhardy energy plan.

Edwards' scandal saga not newsworthy

2010-02-11T05:45:00.000-08:00

Why all the interest in FORMER senator Edwards' personal life? He has long been out of office, will
likely never run for another, so taxpayers' monies and interests are no longer at issue. Admittedly
the scandalously salacious details of his sex life are usual fodder for the tabloids, but the mainstream media have also given a lot of space to this "story"; aren't there other stories of greater import they should be covering? And why should anyone other than the principals be interested? The one item worthy of serious news outlets is whether a crime was committed regarding improper use of campaign funds.

Then there is the judge in the sex tapes imbroglio: hello, judge, why do you even want to render
a decision on such a tawdry matter? Does it really matter who actually can claim ownership of such
a thing?

Time for the "serious" media and certain judges to grow up and attend to more relevant matters.

Facebook's Founder: New Year, New Mistakes

2010-01-12T06:48:00.000-08:00

Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder wunderkind, has done it again, a bold statement:
privacy is dead, he proclaims, social norms show this to be true. --Say, did he take a survey? He's just making a firm conclusion based on perceptions gleaned from mass media, all of it. But life for us almost seven billion humans is more complicated than Mr. Zuckerberg's shallow analysis allows.

I submit he is wrong, on several fronts. People CAN calibrate just how much privacy they
desire/require, even if extra effort must be expended to achieve their comfort level. In public,
there has never been any legal expectation of privacy, even for those who hope to blend anonymously into a crowd, so that aspect remains the same even with mounted cameras. But they can choose whether to email, join a social website, etc. Some, like me, choosing not to be subjugated to overly personal airport body searches, have given up flying in the post 911 era.

Fame doesn't exactly equal privacy, either. All of our most publicized celebrities, just like the rest of us,
still have locked doors and covered windows at home! So Zuckerberg, silly lad that he is, his computer genius notwithstanding, made a whopping gaffe. He'd be a lot better off attending to the various lawsuits coming his way.

MZ may be referring to a subset of Americans, albeit somewhat large, who want to be "up to date in Kansas City", "Keep up with the Joneses", etc. These people, mostly the under-50 crowd, seemingly keenly feel peer pressure, even toil in industries which honor such pressure.
But there are also many intelligent folk who challenge such current notions of "social norms", have better things to do than Twitter or Facebook only about ordinary, inane activities.

A lot of these smarter people have read and heeded the prescient message in The Time Machine
by H.G. Wells; would anyone want to be part of either of the two future societies he describes?

I view such a prospect with the proper fear and loathing it deserves.

To the Associated Press: My Pick for Editor of the Year

2009-12-27T04:28:00.000-08:00

Dear Associated Press:

You've finally brought me to this, an imaginary conversation, with Dave Letterman, no less:

"Hello, Dave? Please bring back your old "Museum of the Hard to Believe" NOW, I found another really ridiculous item for you...The Associated Press has put TWO HORSES on their Top Female Athletes of the Year list! What, do these 30 or so editors want to return to a no women in sports era? Wow, are they out of touch, that ship sailed for the last time in the 1940's. --What about Atalanta, enshrined in eons-ago myth? --The hundreds of top echelon female (as in homo sapiens) athletes in many sports around the world?" --Olympic Gold winners?"

(Don't any of you editors have mothers, daughters, sisters, cousins and friends? Would you really wish to limit their choices because of your own insecurities? Strict cultural roles should have died for good when VERY masculine footballer Rosie Grier publicly took up needlepoint. Get up off your lazy (possibly flabby) fannies and get physical; stop spending so much time watching others pursue athletic excellence.)

"What's that, Dave? My pick for Editor of the Year? Mister Ed, natch."

Watch it, AP, I think I REALLY will call Dave.

Happy Holidays!

2009-11-30T16:07:00.000-08:00

TO ONE AND ALL,
THE HAPPIEST, SAFEST,
MOST SATISFYING HOLIDAY
EVER!

One for the old "Museum of the Hard to Believe"

2009-11-30T15:08:00.000-08:00

Call Dave Letterman and ask him to bring back his very funny "Museum of the Hard to Believe",
because I have an amusing candidate item for it: "Our president was not born in the United States!" That's right, thousands of adult Americans apparently can't subtract 1959 (when Hawaii achieved statehood) from 1961 (when Barack Obama Jr. was born there). Last time I checked, "Birthers", our president was born TWO YEARS AFTER HAWAII BECAME A STATE.

Here is another sad example of "errors explored and revealed", but I'd like to call this
"Errors Explored and REVILED", because this false factoid should have died long ago, when Mr.
Obama became a Democratic Primary Presidential Candidate. But when have mere facts dissuaded prejudiced, ranting haters? Radio pundits like Rush Limbaugh stay on the air,
followers conveniently dismissing his many errors simply because they hate as he does.

Of course it is utterly American to criticize and object to various policies politicians propose
and/or pass, yet also time-wasting, distracting, upsetting and anti problem-solving to MANUFACTURE deleterious information designed to ruin a president's credibility.

So to the "birthers" and other fringe political groups: do the math. Literally, do the math.
Otherwise, Letterman gets a call.

Plouffe's Fluff, a New Book

2009-10-29T17:46:00.000-07:00

I really recoiled while reading the four page excerpt of Obama Presidential Campaign manager
David Plouffe's new book, The Audacity of....(-well, he COULD have aimed at a bit more originality). Yes, he and other operatives had the traditional mechanics, strategy and logistics (....let's get a bunch of kids with Obama Tee shirts and clipboards onto some chartered buses NOW to knock on doors in Battleground Indiana...) of successful campaigning well in hand, but where is the substance? ("...Ax and I,...Ax and I" etc.) I must have missed the numerous instances when either David Axelrod or David Plouffe publicly betrayed any knowledge about any weighty subject such as science/health, world history/current affairs, anything else important to many of us, OTHER than politics.

David Plouffe as a writer is not new to me, or the many thousands of others who received campaign emails signed by him. All of the ones I read were distinguished by many generalizations employing hackneyed phrases, like the all-inclusive insulting "ordinary people just like you". Funny, those very few emissives signed by Mr. Obama himself were quite different, more erudite, more respectful.

Mr. President, please replace these campaign insiders and Chicagoland cronies soon.
You, and we, are not being very well served.

Bring Back Glass-Steagall, Investigate the SEC

2009-10-29T13:52:00.000-07:00

(1) Simon Johnson
(2) Paul A.Volcker
(3) Joseph E. Stiglitz
(4) John Reed
(5) Michael Perino

These are some of the credentialed, experienced economists, worthy experts, who have recently publicly recommended Glass-Steagall (a 1930's very effective two-act set of banking regulations) be reenacted. The Clinton Administration and Gramm, Leach, et al, riding high on the recovery from the 1992 recession, allowed Glass-Steagall to lapse in 1999, heralding the hedge fund, derivatives-based, wild banking sprees which in large measure brought on the 2008-2009 Great Recession. "It's a new era, requiring more latitude, less regulations..we can all get rich!" (That was the argument promulgated by '90's bank-paid lobbyists, the same thinking of the '20's on-spec stock "margin-magic" morons.)

Why isn't The Obama White House heeding such sage advisers as
Simon Johnson of MIT and the IMF, or Paul Volcker,
the still-respected economist who preceded Alan Greenspan?
I have a notion, a most unattractive one: other, vested-interest
advisers surrounding the President. I'll mention two:
Emanuel and Giannoulias, both from Illinois, both of whom
have wealth derived from banks,
two men who can scarcely be objective about reining in the
banking community. Many others in the inner circle
are tightly bound by
too-recent ties to Wall Street and the "too-big-to fail"
banks as well; T. Geithner was/is an extremely poor choice for
Treasury Secretary.

Spectacular SEC failure to regulate and investigate Wall Street and the big banks requires more
investigations by Congressional Rep. Barney Frank and the House Finance Committee...again, the SEC has too-incestuous ties to the persons and institutions which caused our current crisis.

"Pure" economic theories can't work on Earth in 2009; I believe they never have. In America,
most economists say we have a "mixed" economy, with publicly-funded entities such as
police forces, schools and libraries, as well as private corporations. WE HAVE NEVER HAD pure Laissez-Faire in the United States, so the extreme, deregulation advocates need to find a different dream.

Humanity does have a dark side, a selfish side, a short-term standard side. Almost everyone is sometimes guilty of these behaviors, me included. But when the stakes are high, when millions can be unjustly, needlessly hurt by the thoughtless, powerful few, it would be a great blessing to know sane and sensible regulations exist to protect us all....

So, let's all stick a pin in Congress. Call your senators and house reps, ask them to be brave:
Bring back Glass-Steagall, investigate the SEC.

Facing, Even Embracing, Facebook Again

2009-09-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't changed my opinion regarding Facebook's overly-proprietary "we own our customers"
attitude/policies; yet, after a loved one's coaxing, I let her open a new Facebook account for me. This one will be for and with her, she really wanted it; AND what has my righteous harrumphing on the earlier post gotten me? Little commiseration or understanding, to say the least.

The simplest, most rational expression probably should be: if a Facebook customer wants off of
"the cloud" (an account on the web), the company should facilitate that. Everyone else can
socialize to their hilarious content.

But the upcoming/ongoing lawsuits still bear watching.

Facebook Follies: Emauled by Facebook

2009-09-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

Facebook behaves as though they own you, or me: just try to remove your Facebook listing,
if you created one, and an outrageously enlightening experience may ensue. I followed all the prompts, sent VERY FIRM emails TO Facebook, promising legal action, etc....but I'm still out there, in limbo in the "cloud", very possibly electronically bothering every person or organization I have ever emailed, quite against my will or prior knowledge. But the young "genius" creator of Facebook, and all his addlepated admin colleagues don't know me: I have age, experience, a fierce tenacity, and a high I.Q. I have and know something else, too: FACEBOOK DOES NOT OWN ME.

About two years ago, I tried MySpace. I wasn't crazy about the setup, so, after ten days, MySpace graciously, easily acceded to my cancel request, issuing me a cancellation
confirmation number. So the technology DOES exist....but Facebook wants to count EVERY
PERSON who ever tried to obtain a Facebook Account, publishing the lamest rationale in their defense, paraphrased to wit: "Well, when someone wants to reactivate his account, it will be
ready..." Oh rubbish! There are new social websites every year (-or month, perhaps) and competition is brisk, so, once a customer, always a customer, like it or not...a numbers game, even if the numbers mislead.

Facebook allegedly already faces some legal embarrassments regarding this and other technical/policy snafus. I suggest these young turks obtain objective, rigorous legal advice, THEN TAKE IT.

Remember the Milwaukee "414's"? They were sooo clever, hacking away with impunity, but
finally caught, embarrassed, brought down a peg or two. This current eproblem is reminiscent
of that scene from years back, but then, history is often repeated, idiot humans refusing to learn
and retain important lessons.

Emauled by Facebook? A class action suit could be in its future.

Stay tuned.

Public Outcry Denies Public "Option"

2009-09-12T05:12:00.000-07:00

-Boy oh boy! The town hall I saw, recently televised by PBS, showed me a bewilderingly dangerous lack of understanding among the American polity.

I don't remember what town, which week, which experts appeared on the panel, because I was
immediately overtaken by a shocking insight:

Neither the panelists, nor the audience, seemed to realize what the word "option" actually means. Option means choice, meaning one can CHOOSE...which should not have taken on the politically-loaded, pejorative connotation perceived by the anti-abortion contingent in the U.S. (oh, YES, Democrats ARE involved, so that must mean the issues are exactly the SAME, all across the factual, moral, ethical, practical landscape.)

For anyone still confused, dismissive, or merely suspicious:

Any American would have the right to retain their current insurance provider, purchase private
insurance if they don't have any now, --OR--

Choose THE PUBLIC OPTION. There would, most probably, be income limitations to qualify for the Option, so as to not bankrupt insurance companies across the country. This is not a mandate, command, demand, etc.

Why then, since this seems like a straightforward notion, has The Tower of Babble been erected again over this?

Everybody, this ISN'T THAT HARD.....let's recur to a dictionary when obvious confusion erupts.

A Grave Situation at Suburban Cemeteries

2009-08-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

It might be wise to stay in the car these days when visiting your loved one's graves;
cemeteries are the new "strong arm" locations in some smaller suburbs around Chicagoland.
A few thefts have been reported within the past few weeks, possibly more.

At least two savvy ladies I know have changed their "visitation style" recently: They simply drive to within 30 feet of the grave marker, remain locked in the car, windows up and locked, cell at the ready.

The one I'm thinking of was last Sunday, between Noon and 1 p.m., which is somewhat startling,
since most of us probably still generally feel safer in broad daylight; this was a perfect sunny day,
only a few fluff-puffs of cloud....

I have NOT been protected, carefully kept, etc. Somehow, though, this shocked me more for human and aesthetic reasons than the usual painful litany of weapons violence, deaths, etc. This situation, even without violent outcomes, ranks with harm to young children, animals, and...

Remember "Hill Street Blues"? Let's be smart and careful out there.

Can We Let Anybody Fall by the Wayside?

2009-08-05T13:15:00.000-07:00

Reams are being written about all the complexities swirling around the current administration's

health care proposals. I propose to simplify the entire agument, because it IS simple, stark

as well:

(1) Those who object to a public health plan simply don't want to contribute to any stranger's

well-being. They don't care what happens to those less fortunate, bitterly resenting the necessity of putting in any of their kale to help someone else....never mind the fact that wealthy Americans
realize their success in this country, so should be willing to do their part and support those in need. Those blessed with wealth better know that they might become needy someday, themselves.

(2) There are other, public health and safety issues which occur when too many are allowed to become ill and untreated: the spread of contagious diseases, like TB, pneumonia, many others. Resentment bred of unfeeling neglect often contributes to a rise in crime, creating more costs,
disorder and tragedy, ultimately undermining the nation's health.

So, yes, let's not let too many fall by the wayside--we could eventually find ourselves there as
well.

The Knee-Jerk Stupidity of Profiling Prof. Gates

2009-07-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

If it's true that Professor Henry Louis Gates of Harvard was already inside his home, having proven residency before the officer arrested him, then I think the officer WAS indeed stupid,
and yes, "profiling" (racism) seems to have occurred. This policeman's colleagues didn't distinguish themselves, either; they appeared to be shocked that they could ever be accused of less than stellar behavior. So here's a news flash for them and everybody else: everyone commits acts of stupidity before they die, a bitter, inevitable fact of life. The president was right to defend his friend; I would have recognized Prof. Gates, but then, I've seen him often on PBS.

Mr. Obama, don't bother setting up a future "kumbaya" meeting with this cop, you have far more important issues to attend to--the economy, health care, Afghanistan, foreign relations, etc. You really don't have the time, and shouldn't have the focus.....please move on. Let Prof. Gates, a very capable individual, handle this; he may choose to file for harassment, or take other action.

Meanwhile, the rest of us need you.

Mistaken Mix: Guns and Alcohol

2009-07-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

Arizona's governor has just signed legislation permitting guns to be taken into his state's bars.
Has he taken leave of his senses? I bet Arizona police officers and bar owners are jumping
for joy over this one....aren't alcohol-fueled fist fights enough excitement? Just who sponsored
this legislation to begin with? Who gains? It will be interesting to see the reaction after the first
fatality by a gun-toting drunk in a bar. (Good luck!)

To make matters more absurd, the NRA pushed Congress to pass a bill allowing these conceal
and carry gun toters the freedom to travel to any other state with their weapons; the proposal
failed, thankfully, if narrowly. That means some of our representatives have also taken leave
of THEIR senses. Recently a woman dropped her gun in a public washroom stall and it discharged, shooting a woman in the thigh. Has no one on the pro-gun side realized just how many klutzes there are, how many accidental injuries and deaths will occur if everybody is allowed to carry at will?

Just what IS America's love affair with guns about, anyway? Behind it all I detect a massive
insecurity and fear, a keen desire to feel powerful....but carrying a gun doesn't really make someone powerful, just dangerous.

There are much better ways to improve self-esteem.

Errors Galore, These and More

2009-06-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

How to choose? I've noticed so many wrong statements and actions lately my head
is spinning! But here are a few:

(1) What was the cousin thinking? She leaves a two year old girl, her cousin, in an UNLOCKED
car, while she runs into a convenience store. When she returned, the child was missing. Why is it
sooo much work to carry a two year old into a store? How careless, thoughtless, and lazy, are the people who employ such a "shortcut"?

(2) The author of a new children's book is spreading a bad idea: It's ok to feed pets chocolate.
But dogs and cats can't eat chocolate, it can be fatal. Sugar Would Not Eat It, by Emily Jenkins,
tells the tale of a cat owner who attempts to feed his cat chocolate cake; the cat, sensibly, turns
up her nose at this treat, refusing it. I didn't read this book, only a review, but if Ms. Jenkins doesn't emphasize the dangers of chocolate here, she is doing a great disservice to pets everywhere.

(3) Now to PETA: Oh good grief, leave Mr. Obama alone! He didn't kill a butterfly or a ladybug,
but a housefly. These insects are filthy, not caring where they alight, such as on a pile of dog
detritus, and they bite. So why the great hue and cry? PETA needs to find something else
to DO.

(4) Then there is the storm chaser who took his 8 and four year old sons along while chasing a giant tornado, getting WAY too close. Where was the boys' mother? Did she approve? What is wrong with this father, anyway? How about the local child welfare authorities, they also dropped
the ball here.

(5) There is also the father who abused his children, one of which is only three, on network TV.
He favored smacking them in the mouth, frequently walking around the house clutching a leather belt. Why didn't the network notify police? It took a neighbor, watching the show, to be alarmed
enough to make that call.

I'm beginning to believe adults who want to have children should be required to be tested and
licensed before being allowed such a privilege.

"America's Worst Mom": Bad Logic

2009-05-12T16:02:00.000-07:00

In her defense, she's certainly not among the worst moms; I have known far worse, less
caring "biological moms" in my 64 years. However, I detected serious lapses in logic in the recently published one and a half-paged excerpt from her 2009 book, Free Range Kids....lapses which I pray will not harmfully impact her charmer of a son, now ten.

"The Week" publishes its longest feature, The Last Word, two or three pages from the magazine's back. Another week, another author: this issue, Lenore Skenazy is featured, explaining why she allowed her then nine year old son to take the NYC subway home alone, from Bloomingdale's in downtown Manhattan. Then Ms. Skenazy wrote a column about it for The New York Sun, which resulted in her appearance on morning TV, etc., etc. Recently a conductor on a commuter line (Ms. S. declined to state which) called police when the now ten-year old lad explained he'd ridden alone but would be picked up by car at disembarking.

What follows are quotes from this author, with rebuttals from me:

(1) ......"that may sound a little scary, but it's not. Here in New York, families are on the subway all the time. It's extremely, even statistically, safe......"

Rebuttal: It IS somewhat dangerous, not to say disingenuous, to act on the notion that New York City is one of the safest places for lone children under 13 (often physically slight, like this boy) to roam alone at will. No amount of training, which this mother says she has given her son, is adequate defense against the insane on the streets (and subways), pedophiles, etc. Notice her key word, "families", is irrelevant: The boy travelled ALONE, no family. As to any other "families" who may/may not feel inclined to help if an incident occurs, how is the presence of some families necessarily of help to her? She's right, there is chance in this world; but our job as parents is to minimize the negative effects of chance until at least puberty, when the child is significantly larger.

(2) ......."Our murder rate is back to where it was in 1963....."

Rebuttal: She should, as a competent journalist (which I question), recall that "rate" equates to per capita numbers--so that actually means there are MORE deviant, as well as normal, people around now, period.... the random nature of mingling with the public in crowds and on mass transit should alarm her, because there is not, alas, any straightforward person-per-
capita-chance-of-encounter-ratio every day. On day one, there might be all normal and kindly
folk around; on the next, three, four or more "troubled souls" will come across someone's path,with a potential for disaster. If Ms. S. doesn't realize that people are often sizing others up for any kind of weakness, she is not as widely read as media people should be, but seldom are now. All microbiologists, zoologists, geneticists, anatomists, naturalists and other life scientists state unequivocally that humans are animals also; it's wise to remember it.

(3)....."The idea that we should provide [total safety] for our children every second of every day...It's as if we don't believe in fate anymore....."

Rebuttal: I definitely disagree that Determinism should be any loving parent's guiding philosophy. So, no, besides catastrophic, genetically induced illness or freak accident, I reject "Fate" for children. Of course, every-moment-of-the-day safety is impractical once kids start school, but every reasonable effort should still be made, poetic interviewer allusions to "cotton wool" to the contrary.

(4)...."Mostly, the world is safe. Mostly, the world is good...."

Rebuttal:--If only! No, young single mom (from the photo), it is NOT mostly good and safe. In India and China, despite the glowing reports of the rise of their middle classes, most people are STILL underfed, living in unsafe conditions. Sex and domestic slavery exists in many countries, in our hemisphere, even HERE. (Unless one is prepared to deny the thoroughgoing journalism of
Frontline/PBS and other, credible sources.) Too many examples abound, African countries, etc.

I won't continue my diatribe about Ms. Skenazy's poor and dangerous logic. She has very likely (so far) not experienced some of the worst the world can deliver, but I HAVE:

--Kidnapped in St. Paul, MN, at 11 a.m. on my way to work, years ago, extricated myself without
help; the guy had a gun.

--Molested by a passing bicyclist on the sidewalk one block from my home--I ran around several blocks to get him, but lost him....this was a "good" northwest side Chicago neighborhood.

--Molested by an 18 year old neighbor boy in my own "nice and clean" south side San Antonio, TX home, while all the adults were beering and BBQ-ing out back. (These adults weren't
particularly caring parents at any time.) I was 11.

I've stopped crimes in progress against others on and off over the past 30+ years, mostly in Chicago, but occasionally elsewhere; I don't need the press, a posse, or a red beret, like the Sliwas of NYC, to do this. I'm delighted and satisfied to have helped many people, but I can tell you, every one of the many incidents occurred in public, and NO ONE ELSE stepped forward BUT me. By the way, at least three of these episodes took place on mass transit, one on a Greyhound bus during a storm, between Iowa and Illinois.

I wonder how any well-read, retentive adult can be very comforted by the feel-good PR pronouncements from big city mayors claiming encouraging lower crime statistics. (For those of
you Big Apple boosters, former Mayor Giuliani's famous, somewhat effective "Zero Tolerance"
anti-crime program was a DIRECT LIFT from the University of Chicago's famous Dr. James Q. Wilson. He's the criminologist who coauthored a text explaining his "Broken Window" theory, which is identical to the zero tolerance philosophy--published about ten years before New York
hard charging prosecutor/mayor G. spouted his not original, merely renamed "theory".)
Statistics are inherently and frequently wrong--look at poor Mexico City, variously stated
to have had 159, 150, 42 or 22 confirmed N1H1 deaths. Which is the right number? Similar U.S.
problem numbers are quoted here, everyday--I find them.

We adults must somehow devise the right safety culture for our kids--neither enclosing them
in a plastic bubble nor adopting a "sink or swim" social darwinism mentality. Ms. Lenore
Skenazy, in my opinion, has not found that thoughtful, careful center. I hope she does, for her
son's sake, and for her own.

More Errors, Revealed and Reviled

2009-05-04T15:52:00.000-07:00

There has been a positive outbreak of damaging errors lately, but I'll simply select some of the important ones:

(1) A premature, world-wide panic about the current, relatively mild strain of influenza caused it to be renamed H1N1, as the U.S. pork industry objected strenuously and effectively to "Swine Flu". Among the media and political overdramatizations, Mexico was clocked at 150 deaths from this virus, until a few days ago, when the figure was lowered to 22, far less alarming. (A more recent tally bumped it up to 42.) The chief blame belongs to the media, for seldom distinguishing between suspected vs. confirmed cases and fatalities.

Then we heard V.P. Joe Biden, a supposedly brilliant politician, talk about family, airplanes and subways, in a panicky message to hole up away from confined spaces/places. (Some of us still recall his enormous campaign gaffe regarding "FDR's Fireside Chats on TV ", which in fact were radio broadcasts, hence the word "chat".)

Indeed, H1N1 could return in a yet again mutated form a few months from now, frighteningly virulent, reminiscent of the 1918 Pandemic. But as we're not there yet, let's just get the necessary meds together and deployment ready, with the usual reminders about hand washing, crowd avoidance, etc. Too many businesses and schools were shut for too long a period during this recession, just what we didn't need.

(2) Politicians who pontificate erroneously about facts to oppose legislation really should lose their jobs, i.e., Congresswomen Ms. V. Foxx and Ms. Michelle Bachmann-- again, a fast and loose treatment of FDR's era: It was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, passed in the waning days of Hoover, not FDR, which contributed to the Great Depression. And the murder of Matthew Shepard WAS a hate crime, too bad if any anti-gay sentiment blinds one to that reality.

It is a daunting, yet necessary responsibility to stay informed; when we aren't,
everybody pays.

Memo to our Oligarchs: Don't look now, but....

2009-04-24T21:16:00.000-07:00

This is no time to relax, even though you may think so, since you felt emboldened enough to
"stand down" the new president and his people at the end of April. Credit card company CEOs
who walked out of Mr. Obama's chiding sessions had tersely commented that regulations coming
in 2010 will "suffice"....so, as the French put it inimitably, "the more things change, the more they stay the same": big money, big mouth, big intransigence.

Laissez-Faire, arch-conservative Ayn Rand's "objectivism" (-really subjectivism, or, "it really IS
all about me") will NOT work, not ever, just as a completely controlled economy, i.e., Socialism,
Communism, Monarchy, Theocracy, Fascisim, et al, can't work.

Extremists of the world, take heed!

We may yet get the laws we need.